Diet quality of young children who received nutrition education promoting lower dietary fat.
OBJECTIVE
: To evaluate the impact of nutrition education promoting lower dietary fat on the overall diet quality in children using a multidimensional index that measures nutrient and food intakes in relation to US dietary recommendations.


METHODS
: Prospective cohort study with two intervention and two control groups. Children with elevated low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol were randomized to one of two intervention groups or an at-risk control group. The intervention children received either the parent-child autotutorial (PCAT) programme, a 10-week home-based self-instruction nutrition education programme, or nutrition counselling from a registered dietitian. Children with non-elevated plasma cholesterol formed the not-at-risk control group. Dietary and blood data were collected at baseline and at 3 months.


METHODS
: Paediatric practices in suburbs north of Philadelphia, PA.


METHODS
: Two hundred and twenty-seven 4-10-year-old children with elevated LDL cholesterol between the 80th and 98th percentiles, and 76 age- and gender-matched children with non-elevated plasma cholesterol, were studied.


RESULTS
: Children who received PCAT or counselling significantly improved their overall diet quality (-0.6 and -0.4 change in diet quality index (DQI) scores) compared with at-risk control children. Children who received either form of nutrition education were more likely to meet the recommendations for three components of the DQI (total fat, saturated fat, sodium) (OR >1.7), but did not improve their intakes of three components of the DQI (vegetables and fruits, complex carbohydrates, calcium) at 3 months.


CONCLUSIONS
: Nutrition education promoting lower dietary fat improved children's overall diet quality. However, several dietary behaviours important for long-term health remained unchanged.
Dixon
L B
LB
Division of Cancer Prevention, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Tershakovec
A M
AM
McKenzie
J
J
Shannon
B
B
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002648:Child; D053198:Child Nutrition Sciences / Q000193:education*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D008078:Cholesterol, LDL / Q000097:blood; D004041:Dietary Fats; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006937:Hypercholesterolemia / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015143:Philadelphia; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012044:Regression Analysis
D008078:Cholesterol, LDL; D004041:Dietary Fats