Achieving fat and fiber recommendations with foods consumed from the USDA school meal programs.

摘要

Objectives. (1) to identify clusters of foods and food components consumed by USDA school meal program participants by total fat, saturated fat and dietary fiber, (2) to assess dietary fiber intakes of U.S. school children by age, gender, ethnicity, family income, student eligibility for free or reduced price school meals and participation in USDA school meal programs, (3) to determine % of U.S. school children consuming vended foods/beverages by grade, race, gender, eligibility for subsidized meals and participation in USDA meal programs and determine differences in Dietary Guideline (DG) and RDA achievement between vended food consumers and nonconsumers.; Methods. The USDA School Nutrition Dietary Assessment Study (SNDA) data with a nationally representative sample of 3,381 children in grades 1–12 from the 48 contiguous states were examined. Food codes from the 24 hr. recalls of children were matched with the dietary fiber updated USDA Nutrient Database for Individual Intake Survey Analysis version 4 to obtain dietary fiber composition of foods and intakes of children and composition of vended foods. The SNDA assessed DG achievement as fat (30% energy), saturated fat (10% energy) and cholesterol (300 mg/d) as a categorical variable. RDA achievement (for protein, iron, calcium, magnesium, vit. A, C, B6, B12, folate, niacin, thiamin, and riboflavin) was also a categorical variable in the SNDA data. The American Health Foundation's (AHF) dietary fiber intake recommendations [age (yr.) + 5 g/d] were used to assess fiber intakes. Fuzzy K-means cluster analysis of foods consumed by USDA meal program participants was performed. Chi-square analyses, Tukey-Kramer t-tests, & correlations were used to assess differences between groups of children, using SAS, SUDAAN and JMP.; Results. 1890 foods and food components low in fat and saturated fat and high in dietary fiber were identified by the cluster analysis. These foods included, hot chocolate and chocolate milk and ready-to-eat breakfast cereals. The % of children achieving AHF dietary fiber recommendations ranged from over 60% of 6 yr. old males to less than 10% of 18 yr. old females. Females 12–18 yr. of age had significantly lower mean fiber intakes than males of the same ages (p 0.001). African-American children had significantly lower mean dietary fiber intakes at most ages than Caucasian children. Hispanic adolescents had significantly higher mean dietary fiber intakes than Caucasian adolescents of the same ages (p 0.05). Dietary fiber intakes did not differ significantly by eligibility for subsidized meals. Dietary fiber intakes of USDA school breakfast program (14.1 vs. 17.3 g/d, p 0.001) and National School Lunch Program participants (13.3 vs. 16.6 g/d, p 0.001) were significantly lower than that of nonparticipants. An average of 11.4% of school children consumed vended foods/beverages. These items contributed approx. one third of the daily energy intake of those who consumed them. Male and female vended food consumers were significantly less likely to have achieved age appropriate RDAs than nonconsumers of the grade and gender (p 0.001), but often more likely to have achieved DGs than nonconsumers.