ResearchOriginal ResearchTrends in Dietary Intake among US 2- to 6-Year-Old Children, 1989-2008
Section snippets
Datasets and Sample Sizes
This analysis included 10,647 children ages 2 to 6 years from five nationally representative surveys of dietary intake in the United States. The Continuing Survey of Food Intake by Individuals (CSFII) was conducted by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) from 1989 to 1991 (n=1,370 children ages 2 to 6 years) and from 1994 to 1998 (n=6,285 children ages 2 to 6 years).27 CSFII sampling was based on US Census tracks, and participants were enrolled at the household level. What We Eat in America
Results
Sociodemographic characteristics and total daily energy intake are reported in Table 1. For preschoolers ages 2 to 6 years, total daily energy intake increased by 109 kcal between 1989 and 2008 (P<0.05). There were minor differences in the distributions of race and ethnicity and income over the surveys, the greatest of which was a nearly 8% decrease in the proportion of non-Hispanic whites between 1989-1991 and 1994-1998. The proportion of poor increased between 1989-1991 and 2003-2004, but
Discussion
To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine 20-year changes in food consumption patterns among 2- to 6-year-old children in the United States using nationally representative samples. During a 20-year period, there is a marked increase in foods high in added sugars, solid fats, and sodium in the preschooler diet. Per capita consumption of savory snacks, pizza/calzones, sweet snacks and candy, mixed Mexican dishes, and fruit juice, increased by a combined 148 kcal/day. In contrast,
Acknowledgements
We thank the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Grant 67506) and the National Institutes of Health (R01 HL104580 and CPC 5 R24 HD050924) for financial support. We also wish to thank Phil Bardsley, PhD, for exceptional assistance with the data management and programming, Frances L. Dancy for administrative assistance, Tom Swasey for graphics support, and Carmen Piernas for assistance in this effort.
C. N. Ford is a research assistant and doctoral student, Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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C. N. Ford is a research assistant and doctoral student, Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
M. M. Slining is a research assistant professor, Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
B. M. Popkin is W. R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor, Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
FUNDING/SUPPORT Funding for this study comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Grant 67506) and the National Institutes of Health (R01 HL104580 and CPC 5 R24 HD050924).
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
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