The association between nutrition knowledge and intake of healthy and unhealthy foods in 6 to 8 year old South African children

MSc (Nutrition), North-West University, Potchefstroom CampusBackground: The increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity in school going children has driven more focus on exploring their dietary intakes. Poor dietary habits are one of the key determinants of obesity and overweight. Dietary habits are influenced by several factors that include social, environmental and individual factors such as nutrition knowledge. Encouraging healthy food group intake can help in alleviating occurrence of childhood overweight and obesity. Improving knowledge on consumption and function of foods can enhance food intake however little is known on how much nutrition knowledge influence food group intake in children. Aim: The aim of the study was to determine the association between nutrition knowledge and intake of healthy and unhealthy food groups in children 6 to 8 years. Methods: Using a simple food frequency questionnaire and a nutrition knowledge questionnaire, information was collected from 269 children aged 6 to 8 years from five primary schools in Tlokwe Municipality, in Potchefstroom, South Africa. Results: The general nutrition knowledge was better than knowledge on the importance of food groups. Low median frequency of intakes of healthy and unhealthy foods was observed though frequency of sugar sweetened cold beverages was high, at 5 - 6 days a week. The median frequency of intakes for healthy food groups were better compared to that of the unhealthy food groups. Food group associations observed showed that the frequency of milk and milk products group intake was positively correlated with food groups like fruit (r = 0.158, p = 0.0001) and sugar sweetened cold beverages (r = 0.126, p = 0.0001). Frequency of sweets intake was positively correlated with animal source protein foods and all unhealthy food groups; a negative correlation was also noted with vegetables food group. Frequency of sugar sweetened cold beverages intake was significantly (p = 0.01) associated with all food groups except with fruit group. Nutrition knowledge score correlated positively with frequency of milk and milk products group intake. No association was observed between nutrition knowledge and any other food group. Household income and parental education were associated with children’s nutrition knowledge score, as well as frequency of intakes from the fruit, animal source protein food and milk food groups. These results persisted after further analysis using a multivariable linear regression model with adjustment for possible covariates. Conclusion: We found no association between nutrition knowledge and frequency of intake of healthy and unhealthy foods in young children aged 6 to 8 yearsMaster