1. Evaluation of the Proximity of Singaporean Children’s Dietary Habits to Food-Based Dietary Guidelines
- Author
-
Naageswari Duriraju, Jessica Xiu Yan Ong, Lourdes Santos-Merx, Mavis Chun, Jasmine Hui Min Low, Iain A. Brownlee, Mia Eng Tay, and Gilly A. Hendrie
- Subjects
Male ,vegetables ,food-based dietary guidelines ,0301 basic medicine ,Saturated fat ,Ethnic group ,lcsh:TX341-641 ,030209 endocrinology & metabolism ,D600 ,fruits ,Ethnic origin ,D700 ,Article ,Body Mass Index ,Nutrition Policy ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Multivariate analysis of variance ,Interquartile range ,Environmental health ,Ethnicity ,Humans ,Medicine ,Child ,Demography ,Singapore ,030109 nutrition & dietetics ,Nutrition and Dietetics ,business.industry ,Nutritional Requirements ,Feeding Behavior ,diet quality ,Diet ,whole grains ,Cross-Sectional Studies ,Health promotion ,Female ,dietary pattern ,Analysis of variance ,business ,lcsh:Nutrition. Foods and food supply ,Body mass index ,Food Science - Abstract
Dietary habits in children may not only impact current health status but could also shape future, lifelong dietary choices. Dietary intake data in Singaporean children are limited. The current study aimed to define the overall diet quality of Singaporean children using an existing cross-sectional dataset and to consider how demographic factors (i.e., body mass index (BMI) status, ethnicity, age, and sex) were associated with these scores. Existing, cross-sectional dietary data (n = 561 children aged 6&ndash, 12 years, collected in 2014&ndash, 2015) from duplicate 24-h recalls were assessed for diet quality using an index based on the Singaporean Health Promotion Board dietary guidelines. Total diet quality scores were calculated from ten different components (frequencies of rice and alternatives, whole grains, fruits, vegetables, meat and alternatives, dairy and alternatives, total fat, saturated fat, sodium intake, and added sugars). Association with demographic factors and BMI category was evaluated by one-way multivariate ANOVA (MANOVA) tests, with Bonferroni post hoc analyses. Median (interquartile range) total diet quality scores were 65.4 (57.1&ndash, 73.0). Median scores for whole grains (0.0, 0.0&ndash, 33.4), fruits (24.1, 0.0&ndash, 65.3), vegetables (36.5, 10.4-89.8), and sodium (58.4, 0.0&ndash, 100.0) intake were frequently sub-optimal. Children of Malay ethnic origin had statistically lower total diet quality scores ((55.3, 47.5&ndash, 60.3) vs. other ethnic groups (combined median 65.4 (57.1, 73.0), p <, 0.001). These findings highlight the need for continuing efforts to improve dietary intake in young Singaporeans and for longitudinal dietary monitoring in this group.
- Published
- 2019
- Full Text
- View/download PDF