Food patterns of a random sample of Dunedin school children aged 8-10 years

As part of a study to determine the iodine status of school-aged children, anthropometric, dietary, biochemical and clinical data were collected from 74 healthy children aged 8-10 years randomly selected from schools in Dunedin city. Dietary data were collected via a qualitative food frequency questionnaire and 24-hour recall administered to the children in conjunction with their primary caregiver. More than 90% of the children consumed milk on a daily basis while the remainder consumed milk weekly. Other dairy products were consumed daily by 69% and weekly by 31% of the sample. Red meat was consumed by 26% of the children daily, 66% weekly, and 8% either monthly or rarely. A large number of children (>90%) consumed poultry on a weekly basis. Fish and seafood were consumed less often: none of the children ate these foods daily, while 47% ate fish and seafoods weekly and 23% monthly. More than 90% of the children came from households that used iodised salt with two-thirds of parents cooking with salt on a regular basis; 50% of the children salted their food either monthly or rarely while only 5 children used salt on a daily basis. These preliminary results suggest that most of the children in this sample are regular consumers of foods rich in protein, calcium, riboflavin and iron.