The aim of this study is to survey the eating habits and nutritional knowledge of children in Pusan, with a view to uncovering problems and their underlying causes and cultivating desirable dietary habit and nutrition for children.
Three hundred and fifty six elementary school students were asked questions about their eating habits and nutritional knowledge as well as general information about their personal characteristics.
The results showed:
1. Only 53.5% of the subjects had breakfast every day. Seventy-six percent of the subjects had dinner every day. Only 40% of the children took meals and talked with family at both breakfast and dinner. Thus there was little opportunity for dietary guidance by parents.
2. About half of the subjects answered that their appetite decreased after eating snack foods between meals. A third of the subjects liked the baked goods as snacks. Because of their high sugar and fat content, they can damage children´s health, resulting in child diabetes and tooth decay. For this reason, careful education is necessary to allow children to be able to select snack foods that are appropriate in kind and quantity.
3. About 85% of the subjects had an unbalanced diet. Therefore systematic nutrition education at school is necessary to instill in children the value of balanced diet.
4. Children preferred rice to other cereals as a staple food. They disliked kimchi, seasoned and blanched foods and salads as subsidiary foods. It is therefore necessary to teach children systematically the nutritional advantage of cereals and vegetables and to heighten their awareness of Korean food culture.
5. Children had a low level of nutritional knowledge. The knowledge of specific nutrients was lower than that of foods.
In conclusion, systematical educational programs need to be developed at elementary school. These should include information about achieving a balanced diet, good eating habit, meal management and Korean dietary culture. Nutritional education at home must be emphasized.
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