Changes in Children's Diets: 1989-1991 to 1994-1996. Special Nutrition Programs

摘要

Childrens diets may influence their lives in a variety of ways, includingaffecting their growth, health outcomes, and cognitive development. Since the late 1980s, considerable attention has been given to identifying nutritional problems in childrens diets and identifying and implementing initiatives that may help children (and adults) improve their diets. For example, public initiatives have focused on encouraging children to limit their fat intake and to eat a balanced diet that includes recommended numbers of servings of the five major food groups from the U.S. Department of Agricultures Food Guide Pyramid. As a result, there is wide interest in whether childrens diets have changed during recent years. This report is the second of two reports on the nutrition of children using findings from the analysis of the 1989-1991 and 1994-1996 panels of the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals (CSFII). The key objectives of the overall study are to describe the diets of school-aged children in the United States as of the mid-1990s, examine relationships between childrens participation in the school meal programs and their dietary intake, and examine changes in intake between the periods 1989-1991 and 1994-1996. This second report describes changes between these periods in childrens food and nutrient intakes and reports the percentages of children meeting various dietary standards. The first report (Gleason and Suitor 2000) focuses on childrens dietary intakes as of 1994-1996 and also compares the diets of participants and nonparticipants in the school meal programs.