Whole-grain food consumption in Singaporean children aged 6–12 years

Neo, Jia En, Binte Mohamed Salleh, Saihah, Toh, Yun Xuan, How, Kesslyn Yan Ling, Tee, Mervin, Mann, Kay, Hopkins, Sinead, Thielecke, Frank, Seal, Chris J. and Brownlee, Iain A. (2016) Whole-grain food consumption in Singaporean children aged 6–12 years. Journal of Nutritional Science, 5. e33. ISSN 2048-6790

[img]
Preview
Text
wholegrain_food_consumption_in_singaporean_children_aged_612_years.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0.

Download (787kB) | Preview
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jns.2016.25

Abstract

Public health bodies in many countries are attempting to increase population-wide habitual consumption of whole grains. Limited data on dietary habits exist in Singaporean children. The present study therefore aimed to assess whole grain consumption patterns in Singaporean children and compare these with dietary intake, physical activity and health parameters. Dietary intake (assessed by duplicate, multipass, 24-h food recalls), physical activity (by questionnaire) and anthropometric measurements were collected from a cross-section of 561 Singaporean children aged 6–12 years. Intake of whole grains was evaluated using estimates of portion size and international food composition data. Only 38·3 % of participants reported consuming whole grains during the dietary data collection days. Median intake of whole grains in consumers was 15·3 (interquartile range 5·4–34·8) g/d. The most commonly consumed whole-grain food groups were rice (29·5 %), wholemeal bread (28·9 %) and ready-to-eat breakfast cereals (18·8 %). A significantly lower proportion of Malay children (seven out of fifty-eight; P < 0·0001) consumed whole grains than children of other ethnicities. Only 6 % of all children consumed the amount of whole grains most commonly associated with improved health outcomes (48 g/d). There was no relationship between whole grain consumption patterns and BMI, waist circumference or physical activity but higher whole grain intake was associated with increased fruit, vegetable and dairy product consumption (P < 0·001). These findings demonstrate that consumption of whole grain foods is low at a population level and infrequent in Singaporean children. Future drives to increase whole-grain food consumption in this population are likely to require input from multiple stakeholders.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Children, Dietary intake, Singapore, Whole grains
Subjects: B400 Nutrition
C900 Others in Biological Sciences
D600 Food and Beverage studies
D700 Agricultural Sciences
Department: Faculties > Health and Life Sciences > Applied Sciences
Depositing User: Elena Carlaw
Date Deposited: 30 Oct 2019 11:43
Last Modified: 31 Jul 2021 22:19
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/41305

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics