Fast food consumption among grade four and grade five primary school students in six cities of China / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To understand the status on fast food consumption among grade 4 and grade 5 primary school 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 and Harbin. All the participants were investigated with a self-administered questionnaire survey of dietary behaviors.@*Results@#Students consumed western fast food 1.48 times a week and Chinese fast food 2.08 times a week on average, which shows significant differences (χ2=643.86, P<0.05). The main reasons for choosing Chinese fast food were delicious(73.8%), nutritious(69.9%), safe and clean(52.2%), convenient (45.9%) and eating surrounding (41.4%), and for western fast food were delicious(80.1%), eating surrounding(53.0%), convenient(44.2%), safe and clean (41.6%) and nutritious(40.6%). Boys paid more attention to deliciousness and convenience, girls paid more attention to cleanliness and nutrition. About 43.9% of the students were aware of the high calorie in western fast food.@*Conclusion@#The consumption of fast food is popular among primary students. Schools and other relevant departments should launch nutrition education, deliver sufficient nutrition knowledge，help students establishing a good diet habit and reduce the consumption of western fast food with high calories.