Medica Jadertina, Vol. 42 No. 1-2, 2012.
Preliminary communication
Assesment of the quality of meals in Šibenik preschools
Katja Ćurin
; Split-Dalmatia County, Public Health Institute
Roka Mrša
; General Hospital Šibenik
Abstract
Guidelines, policies for children of preschool age are based on the results of monitoring nutritional status of children aged 7-15 years by which 11% are overweight, while 5.5% are obese. A disturbing trend is the growing prevalence of obesity, especially in urban areas where the number of obese children in the last ten years has almost doubled.
The quality of nutrition influences the nutritional status of children, therefore, this paper presents the research of energy and nutritional value of meals that meet the daily needs of 75% of children in
kindergartens in Šibenik city institutions for the period from 2002 to 2007. The assessment of the nutrition status of children anthropometric measurements have been performed (body height and body weight) from whose value relative weight is derived (RTT), and the processed results of measurements are expressed in percentiles.
The aim of this study was to determine the nutrition status quality in relation to the standards used, and to determine the nutritional status of children, and to correlate these two parameters.
The most common values of protein, fat, carbohydrate and total energy values decreased in nurseries and kindergartens. Out of 586 children measured, 371 children in nursery school children, or 63.31% were
normal weight, and 105 children or 17.91% of children were overweight. Out of 3,175 kindergarten children
2,036 or 64.12% were normal weight, while 523 or 16.47% were overweight.
The results indicate that it is necessary to continuously monitor the quality of the food and indicate deviations from the recommended values. Monitoring the diet is necessary to connect to the data
programmed, and continuous monitoring of the nutritional status of children (according to WHO standards NCHS). The suggestions for improving the diet were thus adjusted and aligned with the situation in the field. This step forward would improve the quality of food and prevent the public health problem of obesity in pre-schools in all counties on the Croatian territory.
Keywords
nutrition; nutrition standards; preschool children; nutritional status; obesity
Hrčak ID:
83884
URI
Publication date:
4.6.2012.
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