Objective: To report on the variety and total number of food items recorded by a true longitudinal group of urban black South African children (n 5 143) from the Birth-to-Twenty Study at five interceptions at the ages of 5 (1995), 7 (1997), 9 (1999), 10 (2000) and 13 (2003) years, respectively. Methods: Dietary intake was assessed using a semi-quantitative food-frequency questionnaire. Frequencies were calculated per week, for each interception and for all five interceptions combined, using SAS. Results: Five hundred and forty-six different individual food items were recorded 23 480 times for all five interceptions combined. The highest of 124 items was recorded in 1999 contributing 23% of the 546 items recorded. Each of the top 10 items (rice, stiff maize-meal porridge, chicken, sugar, sweets, tea, eggs, full-cream milk, carbonated beverages and oil) contributed between 2.5% and 3% and these items were recorded almost 600 times or more for all interceptions combined (n 5 23 840). Rice and stiff maize-meal porridge were the top items recorded 684 and 676 times, both contributing 2.87% and 2.84%, respectively. The variety of food items and the ratio of the food groups to the total number of foods recorded in the present study were not significantly different but the denominators decreased over the five interceptions. Conclusion: The variety of food items recorded did not vary between 1995 and 2003 -the fact that new items were not added to the questionnaire as the children grew older could have contributed to this phenomenon. However, there was a difference in the ranking of these items that may suggest a change in eating patterns.

Objectives-To explore and describe eating attitudes in early pubertal 11-year-old black and white South African girls in an urban environment undergoing transition.Design-The study was designed as a cross-sectional baseline initiative within a longitudinal study.Subjects-Two hundred and two subjects were randomly selected; 54 were white and 148 black. Methods-Subjects completed questionnaires, and anthropometric measurements were taken.Outcome measures-Variables included body mass index (BMI), eating attitudes (EAT score), dietary intake, socio-economic status, pubertal status and level of physical activity.Results-As expected, the prevalence rate of abnormal eating attitudes in this group of girls was low (1%). No significant ethnic differences were found in the total EAT scores. White participants displayed greater oral control, while their black peers displayed greater tendencies toward dieting (p = 0.05). Girls who scored higher on the dieting subscale had a larger body size and were more inactive than low dieting scorers (p = 0.05). A relationship between body size measurements and dietary intake was found only in black girls. Traditionally a larger figure is accepted in black culture. However our data suggest a move away from this, indicating acculturation, as awareness of increased body size significantly influenced dieting attitudes. However, scores were within the normal range.Conclusions-There is early evidence suggesting the impact of societal transition on young black girls with regard to eating attitudes. Black girls in this age group are adopting Western ideals of beauty and thinness.There is a consensus among researchers that abnormal eating attitudes and behaviour predate and increase the predisposition to eating disorders (particularly during adolescence), as these disorders are manifestations of such attitudes and behaviour. There is a paucity of relevant research on early adolescent girls living in a developing country, and few studies have examined ethnic and socio-economic differences.Findings from the USA and Europe1,2 suggest not only that disordered eating behaviours may be increasing in prevalence, but also that the age of onset of these disorders may be decreasing.3,4 Lieberman et al.5 concluded that adolescent body image concerns and dieting prevalence did not change with age; thus girls as young as 12 years old had similar levels of dieting and body dissatisfaction to 16-year-old girls. Moore6 noted that many of his younger adolescent respondents appeared to be attempting weight control without an accurate perception of what was an appropriate age-related weight. Although for many decades it has been assumed that eating disorders occur primarily in Western cultures, particularly among adolescents in middle or upper socio-economic groups, there is growing evidence suggesting otherwise. In the past it was believed that non-Western cultures are 'immune' to disordered eating attitudes. These cultures tend to embrace plumpness and the larger figure is rewarded with respect as it sy...

The study provided valuable new information suitable for adapting and developing dietary advice relevant to caries prevention in African children