How do children’s eating patterns and food choices change over time? Results from a cohort study
Abstract
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the change in eating patterns and food choices in a cohort of students as they moved from the third to the eighth grade. DESIGN: Dietary behaviors and food choices were abstracted from 24-hour recalls and compared across grade levels. SETTING: The setting for the study was elementary and junior high schools. SUBJECTS: The subjects were a cohort of 291 students from Minnesota. MEASURES: Individual 24-hour dietary recalls from a cohort of students were collected in the third, fifth and eighth grades. RESULTS: As students moved from elementary to junior high and middle school, their consumption of breakfast, fruits, vegetables, and milk decreased. Soft drink consumption increased. In the third grade, nearly 99% of the cohort reported eating breakfast; by the eighth grade, 85% reported eating breakfast. Fruit consumption fell by 41% between the third and the eighth grades while vegetable consumption fell by 25%. The proportion of beverage coming from soft drinks more than tripled between the third and the eighth grades with concomitant reductions in milk and fruit juice consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Family, school, and community-wide efforts are needed to promote healthful eating patterns and food choices among adolescents. Our research indicates that nutrition education is needed in the elementary and middle school years. In addition, we need to work on improving teens' social and physical environments to encourage and facilitate their choice of healthy foods.
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The Dutch primary school system is mainly driven by educational requirements determined at the national level focusing on maths, language, reading, and world orientation.
“children aged 4–12 years) has been mainly driven by educational requirements determined at the national level by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, which focus on maths, language, reading, and world orientation [9,10].”
From The Healthy Primary School of the Future: A Contextual Action-Oriented Research Approach (2018) · cites this paper as [9]
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- Authors
- Lytle, L. A., Seifert, S., Greenstein, J., & McGovern, P.
- Affiliations
- University of Minnesota (US)
- ORCID
- Seifert, Sara
- Venue
- American Journal of Health Promotion
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2000-03
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 222-228
- ISSN
- 0890-1171 (ISSN-L)
- 2168-6602
- OpenAlex
- W2179826268
- Cited by
- 480
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 25 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 14
- FWCI
- 10.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Journal of Health Promotion (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5u01hl039852-11)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (5 UO1 HL 39852-11)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Nutritional Studies and Diet
- Keywords
- child feeding practices, food choice, dietary behavior change, breakfast consumption, fruit consumption, vegetable consumption, soft drink consumption, milk consumption, fruit juice, grade level, nutrition education, adolescents, primary and secondary school students
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Child, Data Collection, Demography, Drinking Behavior, Feeding Behavior, Female, Food Preferences, Humans, Male, Sex Factors, Cohort Studies
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