马冠生,胡小琪,吴瑾,马文军 (中国预防医学科学院营养与食品卫生研究所北京市宣武区南纬路29号) |
A Cross-sectional Study of the Eating Practice of Children in Urban China Guansheng Ma, Xiaoqi Hu,Jin Wu, Wenjun Ma (Institute of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine 29 Nan Wei Road, Beijing, China 100050) Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate the eating practice of Chinese children living in urban China, identify its contributing factors and existing problems, and provide basic information for developing effective health education strategies. Nine thousand nine hundred and seventy-six child-parent pairs were selected from Guangzhou, Shanghai, Jinan and Haerbin by using a stratified multi-stage cluster random sampling method. Questionnaire survey was used for data collection. SAS statistical software was used for analyzing the data of 9464 child-parent pairs. The results indicated that 70% of the children had a special preference to certain kind of food, while 65% of them had a special food aversion. Ninety percent of them had breakfast frequently,but about half of their breakfasts had poor quality from the point view of nutrition. Snacking became very common among Chinese children. Fruits, cookies, candy, desserts and popped foods were the most popular snacks they consumed. Carbonated soft drinks, fruit juice, milk and yogurt were the beverages they frequently consumed at both home and school. More than 90% of the children had eaten fast foods. The study also revealed that taste, smell, and nutrition were the major contributing factors for their food choice. Parents were the main decision-makers for food selection and preparation while junior high school student showed a greater degree of independence in food selection and preparation. We suggest that effective health education strategies aimed at both parents and children should be employed in order to help the children develop healthy eating behavior. |