Analysis of the Nutrition Education Realities and Nutritional Status in Children

This study investigated the nutrition education realities and nutrition status of children in community child centers, by analyzing the status of nutrition education, nutrition quotient (NQ), and the level of maintaining dietary guidelines. The subjects were 173 children from grades 1 to 6, enrolled in community child centers, Jinju, Kyungnam. The NQ was examined by a questionnaire, which was a checklist of 19 food behavior items. The distribution of scores (out of 100) in the nutrition quotient were as follows: total score of NQ was 59.4, balance 56.6, diversity 60.6, moderation 65.6, regularity 60.9, and practice 56.7. Nutrition quotient was higher in the higher graders due to significant differences in the area of variety. The level of maintaining dietary guidelines was higher in girls, especially in the area 'eat politely with family', and higher amongst the upper graders in the area 'have safe snack wisely'. To improve the eating habits and nutritional status of the children in community child centers, their nutritional state should be checked with regular and systematic education, and their nutritional management should be pursued continuously. Since the assessment of the eating behaviors and the nutritional state of children is important at home as well as in schools and community child centers, nutritional education should be further extended to the parents and their care givers. This study can be implemented as basic material for the nutritional education of children, to minimize the dangers of malnutrition and to help build up the right eating habits amongst children in community child centers.

어린이 영양교육 실태 및 영양상태 분석