Vegetable behavioral tool demonstrates validity with MyPlate vegetable cups and carotenoid and inflammatory biomarkers.
Young children are not meeting recommendations for vegetable intake. Our objective is to provide evidence of validity and reliability for a pictorial vegetable behavioral assessment for use by federally funded community nutrition programs. Parent/child pairs (n=133) from Head Start and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children [WIC] provided parent-administered vegetable tools, three child 24-hour diet recalls, child blood sample and measured heights/weights. The 10-item Focus on Veggies scale, with an alpha of .83 and a stability reliability coefficient of .74, was positively related to vegetables in cup equivalents [p≤.05]; dietary intakes of folate, vitamin C, β-carotene, potassium and magnesium [p≤.05-.01]; and soluble fiber [p≤.001]. The child vegetable scores were related to the parent's mediators [p≤.00001] and vegetable behaviors [p≤.00001]. Children's plasma inflammatory markers were negatively related to the 10 item scale [p≤.05] and are indicators of the child's health status. The positive relationship between the serum carotenoid index and a sub-scale of child vegetable behaviors offered additional support for criterion validity [p≤.05]. Finally, the inverse relationship of BMI-for-age percentile one year post baseline and a sub-scale of child vegetable behaviors supported the predictive validity [p≤.05]. Focus on Veggies, a simple assessment tool, can inform practitioners about the child's health status. A child with a high score, shows a healthful profile with a lower inflammation index, higher carotenoid index, lower BMI and higher vegetable intake. In conclusion, validity of Focus on Veggies has been demonstrated using vegetable cup equivalents and micronutrient intakes, anthropometry and blood biomarkers.
Nutrition Department, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA. Electronic address: mstownsend@ucdavis.edu.
Marilyn S
MS
Townsend
Family Studies Department, California State University, Sacramento, CA, USA.
Mical K
MK
Shilts
Pediatric Endocrinology, Department of Pediatrics, University of California, Davis Medical School, Sacramento, CA, USA.
Dennis M
DM
Styne
Statistics Department, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
Christiana
C
Drake
Nutrition Department, University of California, One Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
Louise
L
Lanoue
Western Human Nutrition Research Center, USDA, Davis, CA, USA.
Leslie
L
Woodhouse
Western Human Nutrition Research Center, USDA, Davis, CA, USA.
Lindsay H
LH
Allen
D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002338:Carotenoids / Q000097:blood*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004032:Diet / Q000592:standards; D004435:Eating / Q000502:physiology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018836:Inflammation Mediators / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D015596:Nutrition Assessment; D009752:Nutritional Status; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014675:Vegetables
D015415:Biomarkers; D018836:Inflammation Mediators; D002338:Carotenoids
Assessment tool; Evaluation; Preschool; Validation; Vegetables; Young children