Contribution of growing-up milks to the diets of Irish children aged 12–36 months

Abstract

Over the last decade, growing-up milks have become available commercially in Ireland for children aged 12-36 months to complement a balanced diet and to help reduce the risk of nutrient inadequacies. The aim of this paper is estimate the intake and contribution to the energy and nutrient intakes of growing-up milks in Irish children aged 12-36 months. Analyses were based on data from the National Pre-School Nutrition Survey (2010-2011), a nationally representative survey of food consumption in 1-4 year old Irish children (www.iuna.net). A 4-day weighed food diary was used to collect food intake data and nutrient intakes were estimated using WISP g , which is based on McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods 6 th edition (1) and the Irish food composition database (2) . Growing-up milks were consumed by 20 % of children aged 12-36 months (12-24m: 25 %; 24-36 m: 14 %) with an average daily intakes among consumers of 360 ml for 12-24 month olds and 298 ml for 24-36 month olds. The table below presents the contribution of growing-up milks to mean daily energy and nutrient intakes in consumers only (n = 49).

Nutritional adequacy of diets containing growing up milks or unfortified cow's milk in Irish children (aged 12–24 months)

“…In the NPNS (2010–11), GUM were reported to be consumed by 25% of children aged 12–24 months in Ireland where whole cow's milk was most widely consumed (88% consumers) and other milks consumed were reduced fat cow's milk (14%), breast milk (7%), follow-on formula (6%), and soya/rice milk alternatives (2%) ( 4 ). In that study, consumption of GUM was less common in children aged 25–36 months (14% consumers) ( 26 ).…”

Dietary strategies for achieving adequate vitamin D and iron intakes in young children in Ireland

“…Furthermore, many studies have also reported that the consumption of vitamin D fortified milk/GUM effectively increases dietary intakes and serum 25(OH)D concentrations in many population groups, including young children . It is important to note that only a small proportion (20%) of 12–36‐month‐old Irish children consume GUM and, despite milk being an important food group in the diets of young children (consumed by 99% of 1–4‐year‐old children) , few commercially available cows’ milks are currently fortified with vitamin D in Ireland. We found that fortifying CM with 2 μg of vitamin D/100 mL would decrease the prevalence of inadequacy from 97% at baseline to <70% for 1‐ and 2‐year‐old children and <80% for 3‐ and 4‐year‐old children.…”