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 Young
children in child care centers are not eating the recommended amounts
of whole grains, fruits or vegetables during their time at such
centers, according to a study from the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. Dianne Ward, EdD, professor of nutrition, is one of the study’s authors.
In a study published recently in the Journal of the American Dietetic
Association, researchers at UNC’s Center for Health Promotion and
Disease Prevention examined the food eaten for breakfast, lunch and
snacks by 117 randomly selected children age 2 to 5 years old at 20
North Carolina child care centers.
After calculating the amount of food the children consumed and
comparing this to current dietary recommendations, researchers found
that on average, children consumed less than 13 percent of the daily
recommended amounts of whole grains and 7 percent of dark green and
orange vegetables while they were at child care.
They also found that although children drank the recommended amount of
milk, it was most often whole milk instead of the recommended 1 percent
or non-fat milk for children ages 2 to 5.
“Child care centers have a wonderful opportunity to help young children
develop life-long healthy eating behaviors. Preschool-age children
often eat what is served; they are dependent upon the adults around
them to provide a variety of healthy options,” said Sarah Ball, lead
author of the study and a research associate at the Center.
Ball and her colleagues compared children’s intake to the new MyPyramid
dietary recommendations developed by the U.S. Department of
Agriculture. Eighty percent of the centers in the study participate in
the Child and Adult Care Food Program, a nutrition program run by the
department that provides oversight and reimbursement to child care
providers for meals and snacks.
The researchers found that a center could be compliant with the
program’s guidelines and still not provide the recommended daily
amounts of MyPyramid food groups (adjusted for a full day in child
care) to children in its care. While the MyPyramid guidelines were
recently revised, the program’s guidelines have not been updated in
recent years.
“We hope these data can be helpful to policymakers when recommending
revisions to the program’s existing guidelines,” Ball said.
The child care centers that were looked at in the study were also
taking part in an initiative based at UNC’s Center for Health Promotion
and Disease Prevention that is working to go beyond minimal standards
to create healthier eating environments. The Nutrition and Physical
Activity Self-Assessment program works with interested child care
facilities to improve their policies, practices and environments,
providing self-assessment, goal-setting and technical assistance.
This training was recently made available online through the Center
for Excellence in Training and Research Translation, which is also
based at the Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention.
Researchers recommend simple, cost-neutral improvements such as
substituting whole fruit or vegetables for 100 percent fruit juice and
substituting whole-grain items such as crackers and bread for cookies
and other sweet snacks.
Other authors of the study were Sara E. Benjamin, PhD, a postdoctoral
research fellow in the department of ambulatory care and prevention,
Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Boston, Mass.;
and Dianne S. Ward, EdD,
a research fellow in the Center for Health Promotion and Disease
Prevention, professor and director of the intervention and policy
division in the nutrition department at the UNC School of Public
Health, and a fellow at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center.
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Nutrition and Physical Activity Self-Assessment program online training: www.center-trt.org
School of Public Health contact: Ramona DuBose, director of communications, (919) 966-7467 or ramona_dubose@unc.edu.
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