title: Special diets are common among preschool children aged one to five years in south-east Sweden according to a population-based cross-sectional survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Information about the prevalence of special diets in preschool children is limited. The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence of all special diets among preschool children in a Swedish municipality.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a population-based cross-sectional survey of all 3276 preschool children aged one to five years in the municipality of Karlskrona, Sweden. The questionnaire assessed the number of children at each preschool, how many were on special diets, their dietary requirements, age, sex, whether they had a medical certificate and whether the special diet had a perceived medical cause.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We obtained data for 3221 (98%) of the children, and 19% had special diets, including 12% on nonmedical diets and 6.3% on medical diets. The five most common diets were avoiding pork (7.8%), a vegetarian diet (4.8%), and avoiding cows' milk (3.5%), hens' eggs (1.2%) and lactose (1.1%). Gluten avoidance was more common in girls than boys (0.8% versus 0.2%, p = 0.032). Half (47%) of the children on special medical diets lacked a medical certificate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Special diets were common in preschool children in south-east Sweden, and the causes were mainly nonmedical. Mandatory medical certificates for medically based special diets might reduce unnecessary dietary restrictions.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Blekinge Hospital, Karlskrona, Sweden.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Servin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Blekinge Hospital, Karlskrona, Sweden.
authors.forename: Sofia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hellerfelt
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Blekinge Hospital, Karlskrona, Sweden.
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Botvid
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, Division of Respiratory Medicine & Allergology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.|Department of Medicine, Blekinge Hospital, Karlskrona, Sweden.
authors.forename: Magnus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ekström
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D013548:Sweden
keywords: Avoidance diet; Elimination diet; Medical diet; Preschool child; Special diet