J Acad Nutr Diet. 2020 Oct;120(10):1722-1729.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jand.2020.03.012. Epub 2020 Jun 23.
The US Department of Agriculture Child and Adult Care Food program (CACFP) recently (October 2017) updated requirements for meal reimbursement and best practice recommendations for serving nutritious meals and beverages, and minimum age-specific serving sizes for five food groups. It is not known whether CACFP-funded child-care centers are meeting the updated meal pattern requirements and best practice recommendations, and whether children are meeting nutrition recommendations based on the current 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA).
This study assessed whether the recruited CACFP-funded child-care centers in this study were meeting the updated (2017) CACFP requirements regarding foods served for lunch and whether children attending these child-care centers were meeting age- and sex-specific DGA recommendations regarding foods consumed.
This was a cross-sectional study using the Dietary Observation for Child Care method. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTINGS: Children aged 3 to 5 years (n=108) from 10 classrooms in three CACFP-funded child-care centers in Lincoln, NE, were recruited by convenience sampling during spring 2018.
Food served and consumed during observed lunches in comparison with updated CACFP requirements and DGA, respectively.
Adjusted mean amounts of foods served from each food group were compared with age specific minimum CACFP serving size requirements. Adjusted mean amounts of foods consumed from each food group were then compared with age- and sex-specific DGA recommendations.
The recruited child-care centers were meeting the updated CACFP requirements regarding foods served but showed limited adherence to the best practice recommendations during the observed lunches. However, the overall mean intake for grains, fruits, and vegetables was significantly lower (P<0.01) than DGA recommendations. In addition, approximately 25% of the children did not consume any vegetables during their meal. CONCLUSIONS: Although child-care centers were meeting the updated CACFP requirements by serving the recommended amounts of foods, children were not meeting DGA-recommended intakes. Future studies are needed to explore ways to improve adherence to best practice recommendations to improve children's consumption of healthy foods in child-care centers.
美国农业部儿童和成人照顾食品计划（CACFP）最近（2017 年 10 月）更新了膳食报销要求和提供营养膳食和饮料的最佳实践建议，以及五类食物的最低特定年龄份量。目前尚不清楚 CACFP 资助的儿童保育中心是否符合更新的膳食模式要求和最佳实践建议，以及根据当前的 2015-2020 年美国人饮食指南（DGA），儿童是否符合营养建议。
本研究评估了在这项研究中招募的 CACFP 资助的儿童保育中心是否符合最新（2017 年）CACFP 关于午餐供应食品的要求，以及参加这些儿童保育中心的儿童是否符合针对食用的食品的年龄和性别特定的 DGA 建议。
这是一项使用儿童保育膳食观察法的横断面研究。参与者和设置：2018 年春季，通过便利抽样从内布拉斯加州林肯的三个 CACFP 资助的儿童保育中心的 10 个班级中招募了 3 至 5 岁的 108 名儿童。
与更新的 CACFP 要求和 DGA 相比，观察到的午餐中供应和消耗的食物。
从每个食物组供应的食物的调整平均量与特定年龄的最小 CACFP 份量要求进行比较。然后，从每个食物组消耗的食物的调整平均量与年龄和性别特定的 DGA 建议进行比较。
招募的儿童保育中心符合有关供应食品的更新 CACFP 要求，但在观察到的午餐中对最佳实践建议的遵守程度有限。然而，谷物、水果和蔬菜的总体平均摄入量明显低于 DGA 建议（P<0.01）。此外，大约 25%的儿童在用餐时没有食用任何蔬菜。
尽管儿童保育中心通过提供推荐份量的食物来满足更新的 CACFP 要求，但儿童没有达到 DGA 推荐的摄入量。需要进一步研究探索改善遵守最佳实践建议的方法，以改善儿童在儿童保育中心对健康食品的消费。
