More Varied Diets Help Children Meet Their Nutrient Needs

 Having a varied diet, taken more frequently in the right amounts and proportions, helps preschoolers meet their required nutrient needs. This is one conclusion of a study conducted by Ms. Agnes Yap of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute - DOST in her master’s thesis on the dietary patterns and nutritional status of 1-6 year old children from Cagayan Valley and Eastern Visayas.

The study revealed that the usual dietary pattern of preschoolers in Cagayan Valley, which consisted of cereals, vegetables, protein, and sugars/miscellaneous group, sufficiently provided for their protein requirement. The diet of cereals, protein, and sugars of children in Eastern Visayas, on the other hand, only met 80% of their recommended allowance for the same nutrient. It was also observed that better dietary patterns resulted to better nutritional status of the children. The adequacy of protein intake of the children positively correlated with all the nutritional indicators in Cagayan Valley. In Eastern Visayas, children with more varied dietary patterns reflected better weight-for-age and height-for-age status.

Breakfast was revealed to contribute the highest percentage of energy, protein, vitamin A, and iron intake. Snacks were taken by a greater proportion of children in both regions and contributed about one-fifth to more than one-third of the children’s daily intake of energy and the other nutrients. Increasing a child’s frequency of eating increases the opportunity of ingesting a more varied diet resulting in higher nutrient adequacies and thus better nutritional status.

Annual per capita income and per capita food expenditure were the strongest factors affecting the children’s diet. As income increases, allocation for food expenditure also increases resulting to wider choices of foods and a more varied diet.

A varied diet should include foods like rice and its alternatives like corn, breads, or tubers; meat, fish, poultry, and alternatives like eggs, seafoods, milk or legumes; vegetables; fruits; fats and oils; sugars and beverages.

Parents are thus advised to give attention to their children’s diets and to monitor their growth to assure them of good nutrition and for their children to attain their full growth potential.