Author : Robin J. Schroyer
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 47 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (131 download)
Book Synopsis Nutrition Education to Increase Calcium Knowledge of Kindergarten-aged Children by : Robin J. Schroyer
Download or read book Nutrition Education to Increase Calcium Knowledge of Kindergarten-aged Children written by Robin J. Schroyer and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 47 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Obesity is a growing epidemic in the United States. More specifically, 10% of America's children are overweight or obese. Unhealthy food choices and a decrease in daily intake contribute to the dietary excesses and inadequacies, resulting in a myriad of health problems, including a decrease in bone mass. Research indicates that adolescent bone fractures have increased by 40% since 1970 due to this decrease in bone mass. Public health measures currently being implemented are aimed at reversing the escalating weight trend. Recent research indicates a nutrition intervention within a scholastic environment can improve children's knowledge about the nutrient content of food. Important groundwork at the toddler age is imperative to shape a child's future eating habits. This research design examined children's knowledge of calcium sources, assessed by changes in their scores on pre- and post- test asking them to identify five calcium rich foods and eight non-calcium rich foods. Subjects consisted of ten kindergarten age children from South Philadelphia who attended Trinity Elementary school. The subjects, who were not randomly selected, consisted of 5- and 6- year old children, all of which participated in the intervention. The children were from similar middle class socioeconomic backgrounds. Eight of the children were Caucasian and two were Asian-American. All ten children present chose to participate in the nutrition intervention. The pre- test was administered individually to each child, in private, as the researcher recorded the child's answers. Next, the children observed a bone decalcifying experiment, constructed animal shapes out of various foods including calcium rich item, and participated in a taste test. The post- test was then administered in the same fashion as the pre- test. Results showed a significant increase in the number of correct responses by the children after the intervention (92.3 + 0.03%) as compared to before the intervention (56.92 + 0.09%) P=0.0004. Results also demonstrated a significant increase in the correct responses for calcium-rich foods (92.00 plus or minus 0.06%) as compared to before the intervention (42.00 plus or minus 0.14%). Nutrition knowledge was consistent among all participants, suggesting that programs similar to this intervention can potentially improve dietary behavior and improve nutritional status of kindergarten age children. Future research should investigate the impact of parental modeling, and the effects of gender differences, demographics and cultural relationships to dairy intake. Furthermore, optimal hours of education utilized in a nutrition intervention should be evaluated, as well as the impact the education may have on behavior modification.
