title: Assessing schoolchildren's ability to make proper use of a food and nutrition pyramid.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Being acquainted with nutritional recommendations does not necessarily imply that they are fully understood, nor on how they can be applied when correctly planning an adequate diet.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether children can recognise single portion sizes of various foodstuffs and to test their ability for planning a daily menu in accordance to the guidelines from a Food and Nutrition Pyramid.
  
  
  METHODS
  Subjects under survey were n = 100 children aged 10-11 years, attending two elementary schools: in Warsaw and Piaseczno. The school in Warsaw participated in two national education programmes on food and nutrition (ie. 'Fruit at School' and 'A Glass of Milk') whilst the other did not participate in any such programmes. The study tool was a questionnaire consisting of closed questions together with practical exercises on planning a dietary balanced menu using the Food and Nutrition Pyramid recommendations.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children could easily recognise single portion sizes (73% correct replies), however they found it more difficult to plan a suitable menu, where 60% met the given specifications; ie. numbers of different food type portions, menu diversity, number of meals as well as taking physical activity into account. Girls were significantly better at planning menus. It was also found that, compared to the guidelines, wheat and dairy products, vegetables and fats were under-represented whereas meat and fruit were chosen in excess. Nearly 80% of menus were sufficiently diverse but only 48% were composed of a typical/normal selection of foodstuffs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite being provided with guidelines for preparing appropriate menus, most children failed this task. This was likely due to either not fully understanding the instructions or a lack of skills in adopting the Food and Nutrition Pyramid recommendations. Thus it is necessary to give more comprehensive explanations when teaching nutrition during school lessons as well as letting the children practice doing the practical aspects.
authors.affiliation: Chair of Nutritional Assessment, Department of Human Nutrition, Faculty of Human Nutrition and Consumer Sciences, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, Poland. magdalena_gornicka@sggw.pl
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Górnicka
authors.forename: Zuzanna
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wiszniewska
authors.forename: Malwina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wojtaś
authors.forename: Agata
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wawrzyniak
authors.forename: Aleksandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kanigowska
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004041:Dietary Fats / Q000008:administration & dosage; D004044:Dietary Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005502:Food / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005518:Food Preferences; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D018673:Nutrition Policy; D009751:Nutritional Requirements; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D004040:Dietary Carbohydrates; D004041:Dietary Fats; D004044:Dietary Proteins