Food intake frequency among grade four and grade five primary school students in six cities of China / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To understand food intake frequency among primary students in six cities of China, and to provide evidence for nutrition education and intervention strategies.@*Methods@#A multi-stage stratified cluster random sampling method was used to select 12 197 grade 4 and grade 5 primary school students from 72 primary schools in Beijing，Guangzhou,Nanjing,Chongqing,Jinan,Harbin. All the participants were administered with a self-administered questionnaire on dietary behaviors.@*Results@#For the fourth and fifth grade primary school students, the highest proportion of "almost every day" was fresh vegetable(83.2%), and the highest proportion of "nearly eaten" was oat (50.2%). There was a remarkable difference between children of different genders, areas and grades. The intake of whole grains, meat and poultry, fishery products, eggs, soybeans and nutritional supplements of boys was higher than that of girls, while the intake of oats, fresh vegetables, fruits, fungi and algae of girls was higher than that of boys. The intake of oats, vegetables, fruits, fungi and algae, meat and poultry, milk of central urban areas students was higher than that of suburban areas students, while the intake of fishery products, soybeans and nutritional supplements of suburban areas students was higher than that of central urban areas students. The intake of oats, fresh vegetables, fruits, meat and poultry, eggs, milk and soybeans of fifth grade students was higher than that of fourth grade students, while the intake of whole grains, fishery foods and nutritional supplements of grade 4 students was higher than that of grade 5 students. The differences were all statistically significant(P<0.05).@*Conclusion@#The frequency of food intake varies among students of different genders, urbanities and grades. School teachers, parents and community workers should make efforts targeting at students with different characteristics to enhance nutritional literacy and cultivate healthy eating behaviors.