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Can Ready-to-eat Cereal Solve Common Nutritional Problems in Child-care Menus?

1999; Elsevier BV; Volume: 99; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/s0002-8223(99)00086-3

1878-3570

Margaret E. Briley, SUSIE JASTROW, Joan N. Vickers, Cindy Roberts‐Gray,

Pediatric health and respiratory diseases

Serving more cereal is a simple prescription for strengthening child-care facility menus and helping to achieve the national Healthy People 2000 goal of having “90 percent of child-care programs with menus that are consistent with the Dietary Guidelines for Americans”( (1) Healthy People 2000. US Dept of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC1991 Google Scholar ). Evaluations of actual menus used in child-care facilities in the past 15 years have consistently documented the presence of adequate amounts of ascorbic acid, riboflavin, vitamin A, and calcium, but have shown insufficient amounts of iron and niacin, as well as energy and percent of energy from fat to be persistent concerns ( (2) Domer J.A Nutrition in a private day care center. J Am Diet Assoc. 1983; 82: 290-293 Google Scholar , (3) Drake M.A Menu evaluation, nutrient intake of young children and nutrition knowledge of menu planners in child care centers in Missouri. J Nutr Educ. 1992; 24: 145-148 Google Scholar , (4) Briley M.E Buller A Roberts-Gray C Spark-man A What's on the menu at the child care center?. J Am Diet Assoc. 1989; 89: 771-774 Google Scholar , (5) Briley M.E Coyle E Roberts-Gray C Sparkman A Nutrition knowledge and attitudes and menu planning skills of family-day-home providers. J Am Diet Assoc. 1989; 89: 694-695 Google Scholar , (6) Oakley C.B Bomba A.K Knight K.B Byrd S.H Evaluation of menus planned in Mississippi child-care centers participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program. J Am Diet Assoc. 1995; 95: 765-768 Google Scholar ). The menus usually provide a variety of vegetables and fruits, are moderate in the amounts of added sugars, and seldom use nitrite or salt-cured foods that contribute to surfeit of sodium in the diet ( (7) Briley M.E Rowe S Roberts-Gray C What can children learn from the menu at the child care center?. J Community Health. 1993; 18: 363-377 Google Scholar ). Because cereal and whole-grain products are found on the menu only infrequently, variety of grain products served in child-care programs may fall short of the “plenty” that is recommended in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans ( (8) Nutrition and Your Health. 4th ed. US Depts of Agriculture and Health and Human Services, Washington, DC1995 Google Scholar ).