Dietary patterns of young Mexican-origin children in rural California

Niños Sanos, Familia Sana (Healthy Children, Healthy Families) is a five-year, community-based participatory research intervention to prevent obesity in Mexican-origin children, ages 3-7 yrs. The purpose of this paper is to compare dietary patterns of children in the intervention (n=118) and comparison (n=47) communities and examine gender influences on diet(boys, n=79 and girls, n=86). Parents completed a 26-item food frequency questionnaire, previously validated in a binational sample, and designed in a low-literacy, pictorial format. Four additional items asked about child feeding practices. Wilcoxon two-sample test was used in the analysis. At baseline, there were no differences in food consumption patterns between the communities. In the total sample, percent of children consuming an item one or more times daily was 49% for tortillas, 15% for refried beans, 74% for low-fat milk, 47% for 100% juice, 20% for fruit punch, 13% for soft drinks, 43% for cereal, 74% for fresh fruit, 21% for cooked vegetables (other than potatoes), and 25% for chips and cookies. Compared to boys, girls consumed rice (p=0.02) and ready-to-eat cereal (p=0.02) more often and were more likely to eat snacks on a regular schedule each day (p=0.05). The findings from this study can be used to design a family-centered nutrition education program to maintain high-quality dietary patterns and prevent childhood obesity in Mexican-origin populations.