We investigated the frequency and preference of vegetable and fruit consumption among children in Seoul, and to find out their related factors. We also sought to provide baseline data to help set the direction and develop nutrition intervention progra...
We investigated the frequency and preference of vegetable and fruit consumption among children in Seoul, and to find out their related factors. We also sought to provide baseline data to help set the direction and develop nutrition intervention programs.
Out of all preschools in Seoul, 400 preschools were selected with a stratified cluster sampling (that yields probability proportionate to size), by residential district, type(public vs private) and the number of children. Taking into account for the number of children in an preschool, we differentiated the selection probability of being included in our study, by applying 2 times weight for the top 1% in number, and 1.5 times for the top 5%. We then selected individual preschools for the study by a simple random sampling. We gave questionnaires to parents of the 3 – 6years old children selected in our sample. A total 3,096 answered questionnaires were used for the analysis, where the collected data were statistically analyzed with SPSS 18.0.
It turns out 59% of children to have an unbalanced diet, 39% to have liked foods, and 48% to have disliked foods in their diets. The main disliked foods are found to be vegetables, and the percentage of having liked foods or disliked foods is significantly higher for boys than girls (p<.001 for liked foods, p<.01 for disliked foods).
According to the ‘stage of behavior change model’ for an enhanced consumption of vegetable, the fraction of parents in 'Action' or 'Maintenance' stage that are making efforts to increase their child's vegetable intake, is summed to be 79.4%, while 20.6% are in 'Contemplation or Preparation' or 'Precontemplation' where they do not make efforts yet. In addition, the preference and frequency of vegetable consumption among children in 'Maintenance' appears to be higher than that of children in other stages (p<.001).
The preference of fruit is rated 4.25 out of 5, which is higher than that of 3.17 for vegetable, where the preference of vegetable for girls is significantly higher than that of boys (p<.05). The preference for vegetable and fruit increases significantly with monthly household income (p<.01) and with the practice score of dietary guidelines (p<.001). Regarding to distribution of BMI percentile value, the preference of vegetable and fruit are the lowest in the obesity group(BMI over 95 percentile), and the highest in the overweight group(BMI 85-95 percentile).
The average frequency of vegetable and fruit consumption results are 1.4 and 1.2 times a day, and the frequency appears to be higher for boys than girls. The frequency of vegetable and fruit consumption increases significantly with monthly household income (p<.001 for fruit, p<.05 for vegetable) and with the practice score of dietary guidelines (p<.001). The frequency of vegetable and fruit consumption with respect to the distribution of BMI percentile value shows the lowest in the obesity group(BMI over 95th), and the highest in the overweight group(BMI 85-95th).
The preference and frequency of vegetable and fruit consumption shows a similar trend in age, household income, practice score of dietary guidelines, and distribution of BMI value, with a significantly higher frequencies at higher preferences (p<.001).
Considering all the results out of this study, the preference and frequency of vegetable and fruit consumption have a positive correlation. We therefore expect more efficient nutrition intervention programs in the future when the preferences for vegetable and fruit are taken into account. Furthermore we point out a need to develop nutrition intervention programs for children of low-income households or obese children, which are groups with low consumption of vegetable and fruit shown by this study.