Food sources of energy and nutrients in the diets of infants and toddlers in urban areas of China, based on one 24-hour dietary recall

Abstract

Food sources of nutrients in young children in China have been little investigated. The objective of this study was to understand feeding patterns of young children through an analysis of food sources of energy and nutrients in the diets of infants and toddlers living in urban areas in China. This study was part of the cross-sectional study, Maternal Infant Nutrition Growth (MING). One 24-h dietary recall was completed for a total of 1409 children (infants 6–11 months, younger toddlers 12–23 months, and older toddlers 24–36 months) via face-to-face interviews with the primary caregivers. All food, beverage and dietary supplements that the child consumed on the previous day were recorded and processed with a database including data from Chinese Food Composition tables. All reported foods and supplements were assigned to one of 83 food groups developed for the study. Percent contribution of each food group to nutrient intakes was calculated. Children in all 3 age groups received a majority of energy (52 to 69 %) from few foods including infant formula or growing-up (fortified) milk, rice, noodles, pork and eggs, with rice becoming the number one source of energy by 24 months. Rice and noodles were not only top sources of energy (17 to 26 %) and carbohydrate (27 to 40 %) but also top sources of protein (13 to 16 %), iron (13 to 18 %) and zinc (11 to 18 %). Supplements made substantial contributions to intakes of vitamin A, zinc, iron and calcium. Salt added during home-cooking was the main source of sodium (60 to 80 %). Few foods made up the core of the diets of infants and young toddlers living in urban areas in China. Low nutrient-dense rice and noodles were top sources of many nutrients, which could potentially lead to inadequate intakes of some key nutrients.