Objective To investigate dietary intakes among 4-to 7-year-old preschool children in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou and evaluate their dietary structures, so as to propose rational dietary guideline and to provide scientific basis to formulate, evaluate, and revise dietary interventions.
Methods A total of 3 098 4-to 7-year-old preschool children were recruited in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Their parents or caregivers were surveyed using self-administrated food frequency questionnaires to collect information on children's intake and frequency of 21 common foods over the past 6 months. The dietary patterns (A-I) representing combinations of Chinese Dietary Balance Index (DBI) scores based on the diet balance pagoda for preschoolers were used to assess diet quality.
Results The preschool children involved in this study presented close DBI scores in total score (TS), low bound score (LBS), high bound score (HBS), and diet quality distance (DQD). The average scores of three areas for TS, LBS, HBS, and DQD were-14.04, 15.10, 1.06, and 16.16, respectively. Among the preschoolers, 70.5% were classified into dietary pattern A (minor excessive and inadequate dietary intake problems); 28.3% into dietary pattern B (minor excessive dietary intake problems, but moderate inadequate dietary intake problems); and 1.2% into combined dietary pattern C (severe inadequate dietary intake problems), D (minor inadequate dietary intake problems, but moderate excessive dietary intake problems), and E (moderate inadequate and excessive dietary intake problems). No children were categorized in dietary pattern F (moderate inadequate and excessive dietary intake problems), G (severe excessive dietary intake problems), H (severe excessive dietary problems, and moderate inadequate dietary problems), or I (severe excessive and inadequate dietary problems).
Conclusion Potential improvements to the dietary structures of preschool children in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou are identified. It is necessary to strengthen the nutrition education for preschool children, their parents, and other related persons in order to build good eating habit and improve nutritional status among preschool children.
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