Relationship of Unbalanced Diet and Eating Behavior between School Age Children and Their Mothers in Wonju Area

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship of unbalanced diet habits and eating behaviors between school age children and their mothers. METHODS: From the Wonju area of Gangwon-do, 232 children and their mothers were recruited for this study. General characteristics, degree of unbalanced diet, eating behaviors, factors associated with food preferences, food preferences, and food intake frequencies were obtained through a questionnaire. RESULTS: The degree of unbalanced diet habits were significantly correlated between school age children and their mothers. Children's eating behaviors were also highly affected by their mother's eating behaviors. Especially, the frequency of eating breakfast showed a significant correlation between children and mothers. Among the factors associated with food preferences, family eating habits, appetite, and emotions showed significant associations between girls and mothers. As for food preferences, preference for meat in children was not significantly associated with that in their mothers, whereas preference for perilla oil and butter was significantly associated with preference in their mothers. The relationship of food preferences between children and mothers differed according to the sex of the children. Further, the intake frequencies for most foods were highly correlated between children and mothers. CONCLUSIONS: Our study showed that the unbalanced diet habits and eating behaviors of mothers can affect those in their children. Moreover, the correlations of food preferences between children and their mothers were different depending on the sex of the children. Our data suggest that educating mothers about their diet and eating behaviors could improve the eating practices of their children.

Development and Application of Dietary Education to Improve the Vegetable Intake of Preschoolers

The purpose of this study was to develop and apply the dietary education program for prescehoolers to improve their vegetable intakes. In this study, 134 mothers of preschoolers were surveyed about the problem of unbalanced food habits in children. A nutrition education program was developed based on the survey results, and then applied in the field to evaluate the effects of nutrition education. Most preschoolers (79.9%) had a relatively low intake of vegetables. The main reason for their unbalanced eating of vegetables was due to texture (34.6%) and taste (30.8%). The activity-based nutrition education program to increase vegetable intake consisted of four lessons. After the nutrition education program was administered for 43 preschoolers, their nutrition knowledge score significantly increased (P<0.001). Preschoolers found the lessons fun (90.9%) and interesting (81.4%), and said they would eat more vegetables in the future (88.4%). This study demonstrates that the unbalanced diet of preschoolers could be modified through the proper introduction of an education program.

Qualitative Study on the Perception of an Unbalanced Diet from the Viewpoint of Elementary School Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate the perceptions of an unbalanced diet by elementary school students using a qualitative approach to nutrition counseling. To achieve the purpose of this study, client-centered counseling was performed over one semester with four volunteer children in the fifth grade who admitted eating an unbalanced diet. Their perceptions of an unbalanced diet were examined while focusing on cause. The contents of the counseling sessions were recorded and their eating habits observed. The proposed perceptions of the clients of an unbalanced diet were as follows: regarding the causes of an unbalanced diet, there may have been a certain negative event or memory related to food as well as an individual disease or history of disease; regarding the meaning of an unbalanced diet, the clients had two kinds of time concepts (formal one and informal one) and defined the meaning of an unbalanced diet as a matter of being able to eat proper amounts of food within an inter-meal time; and regarding the results of an unbalanced diet, they based their results on the approval of their parents and teachers. Feeding at school was used as the background of this study, which examined the meanings and results of an unbalanced diet, and there existed a correlation between the meanings and the results.

Study on the Eating Habits and Growth Development in Korean Preschool Children

The study was designed to observe the correlation between the eating habits and growth development in 1,574 children(3 - 6 years old) in Kyunggi-do and Seoul, Korea. The eating habits and nutrient intake were determined by mini dietary assessment and food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). 35.6% children had been practicing an unbalanced diets. Children with unbalanced diet consumed less amount of protein source foods (meat, fish, egg, soy products), vegetables and fruits and had irregular meal time, but more of them preferred sweet foods (ice creme, cookies) and carbonated drinks as snack compared with children in balanced diet. 24 - 35% children consumed energy, iron (Fe), calcium (Ca), Niacin, Zinc (Zn) less than 75% RDA. Energy intake of children with unbalanced diet was not significantly different from those with balanced diet, but they consumed less amount of niacin, Fe, Ca and Zn than those with balanced diet. By using the relative percentage of standard weight-length-index (WLI), 65.7% children was normal weight, 12.9% was underweight, 13.4% was overweight and 7.9% was obese. However, 11.9% of underweight and normal weight children was so called thin obese since their body fat content was greater than 20%. There were 16.8% underweight in children with unbalanced diet and 12.6% underweight in those with balanced diet. Compared to normal weight, the underweight children significantly consumed less amount of milk and its product, high protein foods, fried foods and fruits, but obese children consumed more high protein source foods (meat, fish, egg, etc) and sweet foods. In conclusion, the eating habits of unbalanced meal was prevalent problem in preschool children which resulting in their health risks. Therefore, it would be needed that new approach for nutrition education to improve eating habits in preschoolers.

Dietary Pattern of Children with an Unbalanced Diet in School Feeding

This study was conducted to investigate the dietary pattern of children with unbalanced diet in school feeding. Children who eat only what they like among elementary school students were selected for this survey. The general characteristics, nutrition knowledge, eating behavior, food intake frequencies and food preferences of the subjects were investigated compared with control group. The subjects were consisted of a total of 160 children : 92 male students(unbalanced-diet group, 46; control group, 46), and 68 female students(unbalanced-diet group, 34; control group, 34). There was no significant difference in nutrition knowledge between the unbalanced-diet group and the control group. Dietary behavior of control group turned out to be more desirable than that of the unbalanced-diet group. In addition, 68.7% of the unbalanced-diet group and 13.8% of the control group hated to eat vegetables. The result of food intake frequency indicates that the control group turned out to be higher in their intake of fish, cereals, vegetables, seaweeds, fats & oils and Kimchi compared with unbalanced-diet group. Intake frequency of minerals and vitamins of the control group was higher than that of the unbalanced-diet group. On the other hand, the unbalanced-diet group turned out to be higher in sugar intake. Children showed the greatest preference of fruits. The unbalanced group turned out to prefer sugar and beverages more than the control group. These results suggest that the desirable dietary habits of children should be formed with the help of nutrition education designed for behavior modification.