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Jung and Kim: Evaluation of Nutrition Quotient and Related Factors in Preschool Children
Research Article

Korean Journal of Community Nutrition 2016; 21(1): 1-11.

Published online: 29 February 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5720/kjcn.2016.21.1.1

Evaluation of Nutrition Quotient and Related Factors in Preschool Children

Yeon Hyang Jung, Jung Hee Kim

Department of Food and Nutrition, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul Women's University, Seoul, Korea.

Corresponding author: Jung Hee Kim. Department of Food and Nutrition, College of Natural Sciences, Seoul Women's University, 621 Hwarang-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01797, Korea. Tel: (02) 970-5646, Fax: (02) 976-4049, jheekim@swu.ac.kr

Received 29 December 2015       Revised 29 January 2016       Accepted 18 February 2016

Copyright © 2016 The Korean Society of Community Nutrition

(open-access):

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Objectives

This study was conducted to evaluate the nutrition quotient (NQ) by gender and understand which factors influence NQ in preschool children.

Methods

Subjects were 245 children (110 boys, 135 girls) aged 4-6 years and their parents. The questionnaire composed of demographic characteristics, eating behavior factors and the NQ questions. The NQ consisted of 19 food behavior checklist items and all items were grouped into 5 factors: balance, diversity, moderation, regularity, and practice. Inbody J05, a measurement device that measures individual's body composition was used to measure children's anthropometric data. All data were statistically analyzed by SPSS program (Ver. 20) and the statistical differences in variables were evaluated by Student t-test, χ2-test, One-way ANOVA and Duncan's multiple range test.

Results

The total NQ score of the subjects was 65.3. The NQ score of girls (67.0) was significantly higher than that of the boys (63.2) (p<0.01). The girls' average scores of NQ factors including diversity (p<0.01) and practice (p<0.05) were higher than those of the boys. The analysis of related-factors influencing NQ scores showed that there was a significant difference among the groups according to feeding methods during infancy (p<0.05), breast feeding group being the highest. Furthermore, the NQ score showed a significant difference depending on how to correct children's unbalanced diet as well as parents' nutrition knowledge. The NQ score of obesity group tended to be lower than that of underweight group although there was no significant difference.

Conclusions

Overall results indicated that the girls had better quality of diet and eating habits than the boys. Children and their parents need proper nutrition education and counseling to correct children's eating habits and to improve diet quality in kindergartens and in children care centers.

Keywords: nutrition quotient, eating behavior, preschool children, NQ related factors

Figures and Tables

Table 1

General characteristics of preschool children

kjcn-21-1-i001

1) N (%)

Table 2

Anthropometric measurements of preschool children

kjcn-21-1-i002

1) Mean±SD

**: p < 0.01, ***: p < 0.001 significantly different between boys and girls by t-test

Table 3

NQ score of preschool children

kjcn-21-1-i003

1) Mean±SD

*: p < 0.05, **: p < 0.01 significantly different between boys and girls by t-test

Table 4

Comparison of checklist items for each factor of NQ

kjcn-21-1-i004

1) Mean±SD

**: p < 0.01 significantly different between boys and girls by t-test

Table 5

Analysis of NQ influencing factors

kjcn-21-1-i005

1) Mean±SD

2) High = 8 - 10 scores; Medium = 5 - 7 scores; Low = 0 - 4 scores

*: p < 0.05, **: p < 0.01, ***: p < 0.001 significantly different among the groups, respectively by ANOVA

ab: Means with different superscript letter were significant different among groups at p < 0.05 by Duncan's multiple range test

Table 6

NQ and its factors by growth index

kjcn-21-1-i006

1) Mean±SD

2) Based on standard growth curve for Korean children and adolescents in 2007

Under: 1-5 percentile; Normal: 5-95 percentile; Over; 95-100 percentile

*: p < 0.05, ***: p < 0.001 significantly different among the groups, respectively by ANOVA

ab: Means with different superscript letter were significant different among groups at p < 0.05 by Duncan's multiple range test

Table 7

NQ and its factors by BMI percentile

kjcn-21-1-i007

1) Mean±SD

2) BMI (Body mass index) = Weight (kg) / Height (m2)

Underweight: 0 < BMI percentile ≤ 5; Normal weight: 5 < BMI percentile ≤ 85;

Overweight: 85 < BMI percentile ≤ 95; Obesity: BMI percentile > 95 or BMI > 25

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