Food guides for children: historical aspects and evolution

Food guide have two proposals: the first, as a public health guide and the second, as a nutritional educational tool. This study aimed at presenting a history of food guides and their characteristics, as well as approaching the dietary guides specifically developed for children. A bibliographical research of the last ten years was carried out in the Medline database, using the key words: food guide, dietary guidelines for children and food guide pyramid for young children. Food guides have been developed since 1916, translating the recommendations for a healthy diet to the population, but only in 1999 did the United States Department of Agriculture develop a food guide for children. It was observed that, in general, the food guides for young children were elaborated recently. Few countries have developed them according to the food habits of children, using foods typical of their age range and appropriate portion sizes, considering the limited gastric capacity of children. It was concluded that it was very important to develop, implement and validate food guides for young children, since they are a nutritional educational tool for the formation of healthy habits and the prevention of chronic diseases