Evaluation of dietary fibre intake from infancy to adolescence against various references--results of the DONALD Study.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate dietary fibre intake from infancy to adolescence against various reference standards expressed on a body weight, age or energy intake (EI) basis and to describe age and 15-year time trends.


METHODS
The ongoing longitudinal (open cohort) Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed Study with a total of 7810 3-day dietary records from 980 infants, children and adolescents aged 6 months to 18 years collected between 1990 and 2004.


RESULTS
Absolute dietary fibre intakes (g/day) increased with age from infancy to adolescence; dietary fibre density (g/1000 kcal) reached a maximum at 1 year and remained constant after the transition to the family diet. Expressed as g/kg body weight, dietary fibre intake increased during infancy with a maximum at 1 year, but decreased thereafter during childhood and adolescence. Dietary fibre intake was low irrespective of the reference used and showed no time trends, with the exception of a small negative trend in 4-8-year olds and 9-13-year-old girls.


CONCLUSIONS
As intake of dietary fibre in our sample was significantly associated with EI and fibre density remained constant after infancy, our data support an energy-based approach for establishing a reference value for children and adolescents.
Alexy
U
U
Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund, Germany. alexy@fke-do.de
Kersting
M
M
Sichert-Hellert
W
W
D000293:Adolescent; D017195:Adolescent Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004032:Diet / Q000639:trends*; D004034:Diet Surveys; D004043:Dietary Fiber / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002149:Energy Intake / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D012016:Reference Values; D012737:Sex Factors