Assessment of dietary behaviors among preschoolers in Daejeon: using Nutrition Quotient for Preschoolers (NQ-P)

Abstract

The study subjects were recruited from child-care centers and kindergartens located in Daedeok-gu, Daejeon between August and September 2018. A total of 411 preschoolers aged 3~6 years were included in the data analyses. A questionnaire of NQ-P, which consisted of 14 checklist items on dietary behaviors, was completed by the parents or guardians of the study subjects. The NQ-P scores and its three factors, including "balance", "moderation", and "environment" factors, were calculated according to sex, age, and weight status. Differences in the NQ-P scores and their factors according to sex, age, and weight status were tested using a student's t-test. Results: The mean NQ-P score of the total subjects was 58.5 ± 9.2, which was within the medium-low grade. The NQ-P score was 58.5 ± 9.4 in boys and 58.6 ± 9.0 in girls (p = 0.955). The NQ-P score was similar regardless of the age groups (57.8 ± 9.4 in 3~4 years vs. 59.2 ± 9.0 in 5~6 years, p = 0.124), whereas subjects aged 5~6 years showed a significantly higher scores of environment factors than those aged 3~4 years (67.9 ± 16.8 vs. 61.7 ± 17.3). The mean score of the moderation factor was lower in the overweight/obese children compared to the non-overweight/obese children (46.6 ± 13.3 vs. 51.0 ± 16.2, p = 0.012). Compared to children aged 3~4 years, children aged 5~6 years had higher intakes of vegetable dishes and processed meat. The overweight/obese group showed a higher consumption of processed beverages than the non-overweight/obese group. Conclusion:The current study indicates that the dietary behaviors of preschoolers residing in Daejeon need to be improved. These findings suggest that nutrition education or health interventions targeting young children is necessary for improving their nutritional health status.

Evaluation of dietary behaviors of preschool children in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do associated with the level of parents' health consciousness: using nutrition quotient for preschoolers (NQ-P)

“…As eating behaviors affect the current nutrition and health of preschool children as well as the possibility of diseases, the eating behavior of preschool children should be analyzed through rigorous research and evaluation [ 8 ]. Assessment tools for comprehensive and straightforward analyses of early childhood dietary habits have been developed and used to analyze various factors, such as the nutritional and dietary factors and demographical characteristics of the subjects [ 2 9 10 11 12 13 14 ].…”

“…NQ-P targets the parents or caregivers of children between the ages of 3 to 5 and consists of 3 dimensions—balance, moderation, and environment—and 14 items. While some researchers have applied the nutrition quotient (NQ), which was created for elementary school students in their fifth or sixth grades, in assessment studies on dietary behaviors of preschool children, research on the dietary habits of preschool children that used NQ-P for assessment has been lacking; the small number of studies that used NQ-P were limited to the Daejeon, Jecheon, and Gwangju areas [ 8 15 16 ]. Studies that used NQ and NQ-P to assess the dietary behaviors of preschool children examined the difference by sex, region, weight, age, and body mass index (BMI) [ 7 8 15 ].…”

“…While some researchers have applied the nutrition quotient (NQ), which was created for elementary school students in their fifth or sixth grades, in assessment studies on dietary behaviors of preschool children, research on the dietary habits of preschool children that used NQ-P for assessment has been lacking; the small number of studies that used NQ-P were limited to the Daejeon, Jecheon, and Gwangju areas [ 8 15 16 ]. Studies that used NQ and NQ-P to assess the dietary behaviors of preschool children examined the difference by sex, region, weight, age, and body mass index (BMI) [ 7 8 15 ]. Research conducted on 5-year-old children living in Seoul showed that the NQ of obese children was lower than that of children with normal weight [ 7 ] and that the NQ of breastfed children was significantly higher than that of bottle-fed children [ 10 ].…”

“…While there was no score difference by sex or age, a significant difference by age was found in the balance and moderation dimensions [ 15 ]. The dietary behaviors score of preschool children in Daejeon was at a mid- to low-level at 58.5, and no significant difference by sex or age was found [ 8 ]. In the case of Gwangju, the total NQ-P score was 59.9, and the score of children between the ages of 1 to 2 was higher than that of 3 to 5-year-old children [ 16 ].…”

Evaluation of dietary behavior and investigation of the affecting factors among preschoolers in Busan and Gyeongnam area using nutrition quotient for preschoolers (NQ-P)

“…지역의 미취학 아동의 식행동 연구에서는 연령에 따라 균형, 조절 항목의 점수에 유의한 차 이가 있었으며 [15], 대전 지역의 미취학 아동의 식행동은 성별, 연령에 따른 유의한 차이는 없는 것으로 조사되었다 [8]. 광주 지역의 경우 NQ-P 총점이 연령에 따라 차이가 있는 것으 로 분석되었다 [16].…”