What do Danish children eat, and does the diet meet the recommendations?: Baseline data from the OPUS School Meal Study

Rikke Andersen; Anja Biltoft-Jensen; Tue Christensen; Elisabeth W Andersen; Majken Ege; Anne Vibeke Thorsen; Vibeke Kildegaard Knudsen; Camilla Trab Damsgaard; Louise Bergmann Sørensen; Rikke Agnete Petersen; Kim F. Michaelsen; Inge Tetens

doi:10.1017/jns.2015.17

What do Danish children eat, and does the diet meet the recommendations? Baseline data from the OPUS School Meal Study

Rikke Andersen, Anja Biltoft-Jensen, Tue Christensen, Elisabeth W Andersen, Majken Ege, Anne Vibeke Thorsen, Vibeke Kildegaard Knudsen, Camilla Trab Damsgaard, Louise Bergmann Sørensen, Rikke Agnete Petersen, Kim F. Michaelsen, Inge Tetens

Lifecourse Nutrition & Health

5 Citations (Scopus)

115 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

A child's diet is an important determinant for later health, growth and development. In Denmark, most children in primary school bring their own packed lunch from home and attend an after-school care institution. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the food, energy and nutrient intake of Danish school children in relation to dietary guidelines and nutrient recommendations, and to assess the food intake during and outside school hours. In total, 834 children from nine public schools located in the eastern part of Denmark were included in this cross-sectional study and 798 children (95·7 %) completed the dietary assessment sufficiently (August-November 2011). The whole diet was recorded during seven consecutive days using the Web-based Dietary Assessment Software for Children (WebDASC). Compared with the food-based dietary guidelines and nutrient recommendations, 85 % of the children consumed excess amounts of red meat, 89 % consumed too much saturated fat, and 56 % consumed too much added sugar. Additionally 35 or 91 % of the children (depending on age group) consumed insufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables, 85 % consumed insufficient amounts of fish, 86 % consumed insufficient amounts of dietary fibre, 60 or 84 % had an insufficient Fe intake (depending on age group), and 96 % had an insufficient vitamin D intake. The study also showed that there is a higher intake of fruits and bread during school hours than outside school hours; this is not the case with, for example, fish and vegetables, and future studies should investigate strategies to increase fish and vegetable intake during school hours.

Original language	English
Article number	e29
Journal	Journal of Nutritional Science
Volume	4
Number of pages	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/jns.2015.17
Publication status	Published - 22 Jan 2015

Keywords

Faculty of Science
Whole diet
Food-based dietary guidelines
Nutrition recommendations
School lunch

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Andersen et al_Journal of Nutritional Science_2015_Vol 4_e29Final published version, 353 KBLicence: CC BY

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Andersen, R., Biltoft-Jensen, A., Christensen, T., Andersen, E. W., Ege, M., Thorsen, A. V., Knudsen, V. K., Damsgaard, C. T., Sørensen, L. B., Petersen, R. A., Michaelsen, K. F., & Tetens, I. (2015). What do Danish children eat, and does the diet meet the recommendations? Baseline data from the OPUS School Meal Study. Journal of Nutritional Science, 4, [e29]. https://doi.org/10.1017/jns.2015.17

Andersen, R, Biltoft-Jensen, A, Christensen, T, Andersen, EW, Ege, M, Thorsen, AV, Knudsen, VK, Damsgaard, CT, Sørensen, LB, Petersen, RA, Michaelsen, KF & Tetens, I 2015, 'What do Danish children eat, and does the diet meet the recommendations? Baseline data from the OPUS School Meal Study', Journal of Nutritional Science, vol. 4, e29. https://doi.org/10.1017/jns.2015.17

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abstract = "A child's diet is an important determinant for later health, growth and development. In Denmark, most children in primary school bring their own packed lunch from home and attend an after-school care institution. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the food, energy and nutrient intake of Danish school children in relation to dietary guidelines and nutrient recommendations, and to assess the food intake during and outside school hours. In total, 834 children from nine public schools located in the eastern part of Denmark were included in this cross-sectional study and 798 children (95·7 %) completed the dietary assessment sufficiently (August-November 2011). The whole diet was recorded during seven consecutive days using the Web-based Dietary Assessment Software for Children (WebDASC). Compared with the food-based dietary guidelines and nutrient recommendations, 85 % of the children consumed excess amounts of red meat, 89 % consumed too much saturated fat, and 56 % consumed too much added sugar. Additionally 35 or 91 % of the children (depending on age group) consumed insufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables, 85 % consumed insufficient amounts of fish, 86 % consumed insufficient amounts of dietary fibre, 60 or 84 % had an insufficient Fe intake (depending on age group), and 96 % had an insufficient vitamin D intake. The study also showed that there is a higher intake of fruits and bread during school hours than outside school hours; this is not the case with, for example, fish and vegetables, and future studies should investigate strategies to increase fish and vegetable intake during school hours.",

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author = "Rikke Andersen and Anja Biltoft-Jensen and Tue Christensen and Andersen, {Elisabeth W} and Majken Ege and Thorsen, {Anne Vibeke} and Knudsen, {Vibeke Kildegaard} and Damsgaard, {Camilla Trab} and S{\o}rensen, {Louise Bergmann} and Petersen, {Rikke Agnete} and Michaelsen, {Kim F.} and Inge Tetens",

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T1 - What do Danish children eat, and does the diet meet the recommendations?

T2 - Baseline data from the OPUS School Meal Study

AU - Andersen, Rikke

AU - Biltoft-Jensen, Anja

AU - Christensen, Tue

AU - Andersen, Elisabeth W

AU - Ege, Majken

AU - Thorsen, Anne Vibeke

AU - Knudsen, Vibeke Kildegaard

AU - Damsgaard, Camilla Trab

AU - Sørensen, Louise Bergmann

AU - Petersen, Rikke Agnete

AU - Michaelsen, Kim F.

AU - Tetens, Inge

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N2 - A child's diet is an important determinant for later health, growth and development. In Denmark, most children in primary school bring their own packed lunch from home and attend an after-school care institution. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the food, energy and nutrient intake of Danish school children in relation to dietary guidelines and nutrient recommendations, and to assess the food intake during and outside school hours. In total, 834 children from nine public schools located in the eastern part of Denmark were included in this cross-sectional study and 798 children (95·7 %) completed the dietary assessment sufficiently (August-November 2011). The whole diet was recorded during seven consecutive days using the Web-based Dietary Assessment Software for Children (WebDASC). Compared with the food-based dietary guidelines and nutrient recommendations, 85 % of the children consumed excess amounts of red meat, 89 % consumed too much saturated fat, and 56 % consumed too much added sugar. Additionally 35 or 91 % of the children (depending on age group) consumed insufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables, 85 % consumed insufficient amounts of fish, 86 % consumed insufficient amounts of dietary fibre, 60 or 84 % had an insufficient Fe intake (depending on age group), and 96 % had an insufficient vitamin D intake. The study also showed that there is a higher intake of fruits and bread during school hours than outside school hours; this is not the case with, for example, fish and vegetables, and future studies should investigate strategies to increase fish and vegetable intake during school hours.

AB - A child's diet is an important determinant for later health, growth and development. In Denmark, most children in primary school bring their own packed lunch from home and attend an after-school care institution. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the food, energy and nutrient intake of Danish school children in relation to dietary guidelines and nutrient recommendations, and to assess the food intake during and outside school hours. In total, 834 children from nine public schools located in the eastern part of Denmark were included in this cross-sectional study and 798 children (95·7 %) completed the dietary assessment sufficiently (August-November 2011). The whole diet was recorded during seven consecutive days using the Web-based Dietary Assessment Software for Children (WebDASC). Compared with the food-based dietary guidelines and nutrient recommendations, 85 % of the children consumed excess amounts of red meat, 89 % consumed too much saturated fat, and 56 % consumed too much added sugar. Additionally 35 or 91 % of the children (depending on age group) consumed insufficient amounts of fruits and vegetables, 85 % consumed insufficient amounts of fish, 86 % consumed insufficient amounts of dietary fibre, 60 or 84 % had an insufficient Fe intake (depending on age group), and 96 % had an insufficient vitamin D intake. The study also showed that there is a higher intake of fruits and bread during school hours than outside school hours; this is not the case with, for example, fish and vegetables, and future studies should investigate strategies to increase fish and vegetable intake during school hours.

KW - Faculty of Science

KW - Whole diet

KW - Food-based dietary guidelines

KW - Nutrition recommendations

KW - School lunch

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DO - 10.1017/jns.2015.17

M3 - Journal article

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JO - Journal of Nutritional Science

JF - Journal of Nutritional Science

M1 - e29

ER -

What do Danish children eat, and does the diet meet the recommendations? Baseline data from the OPUS School Meal Study

Abstract

Keywords

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