Dietary patterns of New Zealand European preschool children

Abstract

AIMS: To record and describe the dietary patterns of a large group of New Zealand (NZ) European preschool children and to compare these with NZ Ministry of Health (MOH) food and nutrition guidelines. METHODS: Mothers were interviewed when children enrolled in the Auckland Birthweight Collaborative (ABC) study were seen at 3.5 years of age. Approximately half of the children in the study were born small for gestational age (SGA =10th percentile) and the remaining were born appropriate for gestational age (AGA >10th percentile). Food frequency information was collected on 549 New Zealand European children. The analysis utilised weighting to allow for the disproportionate sampling of children born SGA. RESULTS: Compared with nutritional guidelines, 27% and 54% of preschool children did not eat the recommended two or more servings of fruit per day or two or more servings of vegetables per day, respectively; 93% of children did not eat breads and cereals the recommended four or more times a day. CONCLUSION: A notable proportion of children were not eating fruit and vegetables at levels recommended by the MOH. Preschool children's food frequency patterns were, however, similar to patterns reported for school-aged children in the National Children's Nutrition Survey.