[Dietary intake patterns in the school health program].

Abstract

AIM: To investigate dietary intake patterns among school-students. DESIGN: An observational prospective study. A dietary survey was used to establish how many times habitual foods were eaten each week. SITE. The population of the northern half of the city of Soria. (North Soria Health Centre). PARTICIPANTS: All the school-children aged 6 and 7 (74 boys and 57 girls in both the private and public sectors) took part in the programme. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN FINDINGS: The intake of foodstuffs was stratified as greatest in quartiles. The consumers of sweet "junk" foods also ate significantly more savory "junk" food (p = 0.00009). We found and inverse consumption relationship between savory "junk" foods and an intake of greens and root-crops (p = 0.03) and of pasta and rice (p = 0.008). The lower consumption of greens and fruits was linked to a lower consumption of fish (p = 0.023), to a lower consumption of meat (p = 0.037) and of meat products (p = 0.008). Lower consumption of eggs was linked to a greater consumption of meat (p = 0.016) and fish (p = 0.029). CONCLUSIONS: The consumption of savory "junk" foods and meat products can replace nutrients of a high biological value which are found in greens and root-crops. New studies to deepen the taxonomical analysis of the school diet are required. These should identify eating patterns which could endanger health in adult life.