Development of an estimated food record for 9-36-month-old toddlers.

OBJECTIVES: Adequacy of dietary intake in the sensitive period of toddler development is a key determinant of health in a short- and long-term perspective. Therefore, studies focussing the nutrition of toddlers are of importance. For this purpose, tailored dietary record methods are an important prerequisite. The objective of this work is to develop a toddler-specific estimated food record (EFR) in a booklet providing photographs of age-specific foods and portion sizes that should be accurate and simple. SUBJECTS/METHODS: For a toddler study in Germany, a 7-day consecutive EFR was developed. Data were obtained from a sample of toddlers in Germany. The basis is an evaluation of 3-day weighing food records on food choice and portion size of the DONALD (Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed) study for 227 toddlers (118 boys) aged 9-36 months from January 2004 to March 2008. RESULTS: In the analysed food records, a total of 15.147 eating occasions with 24.820 dishes were reported and grouped in 17 food groups. To estimate the portion size, the median consumption amounts of the 194 most frequently consumed dishes were calculated and photographed. Formula and commercial complementary food are collected separately. EFR was structured into seven eating occasions of the day: before breakfast, breakfast, mid-morning, lunch, mid-afternoon, dinner, and before bed. CONCLUSIONS: The EFR booklet provides a simple, feasible and validated instrument that can be used to update information on dietary habits during the transition from infant to childhood diet for families in different social classes.

Effects of lunch on children's short-term cognitive functioning: a randomized crossover study.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Considering the large number of children worldwide attending all-day schools, information on the effects of lunch on short-term cognitive performance is of public health relevance. However, only adult studies investigated this issue yet. Therefore, this study examined the impact of skipping lunch vs having lunch on children's cognitive functioning in the early afternoon. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Participants in this randomized crossover study with two groups were healthy 6th grade students of an all-day school in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Group 1 skipped lunch on study day 1 and received an ad libitum lunch 1 week later on study day 2. The order for group 2 was vice versa. In the afternoon tonic alertness, visuospatial memory and selective attention were determined using a computerized test battery of the Vienna Test System. For continuous and discrete interval-scaled variables, treatment effect was estimated using the two sample t-test or the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, for discrete ordinal-scaled variables using generalized linear models. RESULTS: Data on 105 children (48% male; 12.6 ± 0.6 years) were analyzed. Except for tonic alertness there were no significant differences in cognitive functioning between the skipping lunch day and the having lunch day. The higher number of omission errors on the skipping lunch day lost significance when adjusting for multiple testing. CONCLUSIONS: In the first study on this topic lunch did not have relevant effects on children's cognitive functioning in the early afternoon. Future research needs to be done to figure out potential methodical and physiological explanations.

The potential impact of nutrient profiles on dairy-related energy and nutrient intake in German children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the potential impact of nutrient profiling-based dairy product choices on energy and nutrient intake in German children and adolescents. SUBJECTS/METHODS: Consumption data were obtained from product-specific dietary records in the DONALD Study (Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed Study). We compared actual intake data with intake data that were calculated based on the assumption that participants exclusively consumed products that met the criteria of selected nutrient profiling models. RESULTS: For most profiling models, the percentage of compliant products was unrelated to the percentage of the participants' dairy consumption rated eligible. The participants' intake of energy, saturated fatty acids (SAFA), sodium, calcium and vitamin D would be reduced significantly (P<0.0001) if only qualifying products were consumed. The impact on the participants' nutrient intake levels was not directly related to the impact on the product's nutrient content levels. Lower fat consumption was correlated with reduced vitamin D intake, and the models' disqualification of (semi-) hard cheeses had a negative impact on the calcium intake. CONCLUSIONS: The evaluation of product-specific intake data was critical to understand the potential impact of any profiling scheme on nutrient intake. Selecting dairy products based on nutrient profiling could help reduce the intake of less-desirable nutrients, such as SAFA and sodium. However, models that are too restrictive might negatively impact calcium and vitamin D intake. Ultimately, the effectiveness of nutrient profiling models will be determined by the fact whether or not complying foods are consumed.

Iodine intake in the youngest: impact of commercial complementary food.

Iodine is a nutrient contributing to the development of the central nervous system. To assure a sufficient iodine intake, iodine fortification of complementary food (CF) is recommended. We describe the current fortification practice of commercial CF and formula in Germany as an example for other European countries, based on a market survey conducted in autumn 2008. In addition, we estimated the iodine intake of an 8-month-old infant, fed one portion of milk and three complementary meals per day. All formulae were fortified with iodine, and half of CF products. Iodine concentration varied depending on product groups. A partially breast-fed infant getting homemade CF reached less than 50% of the recommended iodine intake. Using infant formula and commercial CF, the recommended intake was exceeded by 39 or 100%, depending on which products were chosen. A well-balanced fortification of commercial CF, including pure infant cereals, would be required to ensure an adequate iodine supply.