title: Frequency of consumption of foods rich in calcium and vitamin D among school-age children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Calcium is one of the most important minerals for the human body which is essential for healthy bones and teeth. Vitamin D has hormone-like properties in the human body. It is supplied with the diet, but it is also synthesized by the body under exposure to UV radiation. Vitamin D controls calcium and phosphorus metabolism and is responsible for bone modeling and mineralization.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to evaluate eating habits and food preferences of school-age children meet the demand for calcium and vitamin D, and estimate the frequency of consumption of foods rich in these nutrients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 197 parents of 7- to 9-year-olds attending randomly selected primary schools in Lublin and Świdnik were asked to fill out a questionnaire designed by the authors. The results were processed by the Chi-squared test in the Excel application.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Considerable differences in the consumption of milk and dairy products were observed between age groups. In the group of 7-year-olds, 57.5% of children drank milk and ate dairy products at least once a day, whereas in the group of 9-year-olds, only 16.6% of children ate dairy products at least once a day. The intake of foods rich in vitamin D was equally low among the surveyed children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  School-age children may be at risk of calcium and vitamin D deficiencies due to low consumption of milk, dairy products and fish, and inadequate vitamin D supplementation. Parents should be educated about nutrition to change the family's eating habits.
authors.affiliation: University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Faculty of Food Science and Biotechnology, Department of Chemistry, Lublin, Poland.
authors.forename: Małgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kostecka
mesh_terms: D002136:Calcium, Dietary; D002648:Child; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004034:Diet Surveys; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011044:Poland; D013334:Students / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014807:Vitamin D
chemical_list: D002136:Calcium, Dietary; D014807:Vitamin D