Skip to main content

Currently Skimming:

3 Schoolchildren's Food and Nutrient Intakes and Related Health Concerns
Pages 47-68

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 47...
... BACKGROUND The committee assessed the dietary intakes of food groups, food subgroups, and nutrients by schoolchildren to identify food and nutrient intakes of concern by age-grade group and provide key information needed to develop recommendations for Nutrient Targets and Meal Requirements. The data sources and methods used by the committee are outlined below.
From page 48...
... It does this by specifying food patterns for 12 calorie levels that range from 1,000 to 3,200 calories per day. To evaluate how well schoolaged children's food group intakes followed Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the committee compared the children's mean food group intakes for one day with MyPyramid food patterns for three calorie levels as follows: • 1,600 calories for children ages 5–8 years, • 2,000 calories for children ages 9–13 years, and • 2,400 calories for youth ages 14–18 years.
From page 49...
... • Total vegetable intake was only about 40 percent of the MyPyramid amount for the children in all three age groups. Data on the percentage of MyPyramid intakes contributed by different food sources indicate that about 29 percent of children's total vegetable intake came from potatoes (about 22 percent of the total in the form of fried potatoes or chips)
From page 50...
... • Total grain intake was close to or exceeded MyPyramid amounts for all the age groups. Most of the grain products were refined.
From page 51...
... 1.5 1.2 2.0 0.9 2.0 1.0 Total vegetables (cup equiv) 2.0 0.9 2.5 1.1 3.0 1.3 Dark green and orange vegetables 0.86c 0.1 1.14c 0.1 1.14c 0.2 and legumes Total grains (oz equiv)
From page 52...
... The discretionary calorie excesses were somewhat lower for the older age groups: 543 calories for children ages 9–13 years and 584 calories for children ages 14–18 years. Clearly, children's intakes of solid fats and added sugars were undesirably high when compared with recommendations in Dietary Guidelines for Americans (HHS/USDA, 2005)
From page 53...
... The Estimated Energy Requirement, a calculated value, is used in assessing energy intakes. The methods used in applying the different types of reference values are described in the following sections.
From page 54...
... For example, reported usual energy intakes exceeded the mean Estimated Energy Requirement by about 400 calories for the younger children and the energy intakes
From page 55...
... With regard to physical activity level, SNDA-III assumed a low-active level regardless of age. Although these discrepancies limited the committee's ability to draw conclusions about the adequacy of energy intake using survey data, data on the prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity provide strong reason for concern about excessive calorie intake (see "Obesity" under "Supportive Findings" in this chapter)
From page 56...
... was used to estimate the usual nutrient intake distributions and the percentage of children with usual intakes below the EAR. The EARs used in the analysis were from the Dietary Reference Intake reports (IOM, 1997, 1998, 2000a, 2001, 2002/2005)
From page 57...
... It is possible that the committee's findings will have implications for the assessment of schoolchildren's intakes of these two nutrients. Nutrients with a Tolerable Upper Intake Level Because no data sources available to the committee provided information about contributions to nutrient intake from supplements, the committee's assessment of usual nutrient intakes relative to the UL was limited.
From page 58...
... found that mean daily sodium intake for all schoolchildren ages 6–18 years was 3,404 mg, and intake at the 95th percentile was 5,270 mg. These values contrast sharply with the ULs for sodium, which are 1,900 mg
From page 59...
... .4 Therefore, the committee used the Dietary Guidelines recommendations in assessing schoolchildren's intakes of saturated fat, total fat, and cholesterol. Both the 2008 Diet Quality Report and the SNDA-III provide data on the proportions of children whose usual intakes of saturated fat, total fat, and cholesterol exceeded the maximum intakes recommended and on the proportions of children whose usual intakes of total fat were below the recommended minimum.
From page 60...
... The committee's assessment of schoolchildren's dietary intakes of a set of 23 nutrients5 suggests low intakes of the same nutrients of concern as identified by Dietary Guidelines, but the assessment also points to a relatively high prevalence of inadequacy of vitamin A, vitamin C, and phosphorus for several of the age-grade groups and of most vitamins and minerals for females ages 14–18 years -- all of which might be called nutrients of concern or shortfall nutrients at least for some age-grade groups. Sodium intake was excessive for all age-grade groups, and saturated fat intake was excessive for more than 75 percent of the children.
From page 61...
... The information points to the key role that an appropriate calorie intake and a nutritious diet have in the prevention of many chronic conditions. Obesity6 The committee turned to physical evidence on weight status and studies of associations of weight status with health to gain perspective on the importance of setting appropriate calorie levels for school meals.
From page 62...
... measures were lower for obese than for nonobese children. A recent Arkansas study documented poorer academic performance among overweight children, mediated largely through weight-related teasing by peers (Krukowski et al., 2009)
From page 63...
... . Because of the substantial contribution of school meals to many children's total calorie and nutrient intake during the school years, revision of the current Nutrition Standards and Meal Requirements might hold potential for reducing any possible contribution of the school meal programs to childhood obesity.
From page 64...
... On the other hand, neither school meals nor the school environment provide appropriate venues for the treatment or clinical management of overweight and obesity among schoolchildren. Because of concerns about children from households with low food security coupled with concerns about childhood obesity, the calorie levels for school meals need to be high enough to meet the needs of the students on average.
From page 65...
... The relatively high prevalence of iron deficiency among adolescent females and the known adverse effects of iron deficiency and anemia led the committee to consider the value to use for the Estimated Average Requirement (EAR) for females ages 11–13 years.
From page 66...
... SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS This review of dietary intake data has identified a number of foods and nutrients for which a notable proportion of children had intake levels inconsistent with reference intake levels. All the age-grade groups had mean daily intakes of fruits, vegetables (especially dark green and orange
From page 67...
... This finding is consistent with the low reported energy intakes of many adolescent females. Based on food intake data, children's mean intake of discretionary calories from solid fats and added sugars was much higher than the amounts shown by the MyPyramid food patterns.


This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.