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Consumption of food and beverage items among third and fourth grade schoolchildren in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala: Description and inferences from a one‐day survey using an interactive, pictorial registry method
Author(s) -
MontenegroBethancourt Gabriela,
Solomons Noel W.,
Doak Colleen M.,
Vossenaar Marieke
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a123-b
Subject(s) - meal , consumption (sociology) , food science , geography , zoology , biology , sociology , social science
Traditional Guatemalan cuisine is known for its basis in coffee, beans and maize. We conducted a 1‐day dietary survey with a self‐drawn, pictorial record to determine the contemporary variety and diversity of diets among 3rd and 4th grade children, both M and F, from higher (HSES, n=230) and lower (LSES, n=219) classes in the western‐highlands city of Quetzaltenango. A total of 249 distinct food and beverage items were identified based on different edible species and preparations forms with the same species. We tabulated the number of mentions of each of the items, understood as consumption of any amount at a distinct meal time. Over 449 individual child‐days of records, we recorded 6509 mentions. Mean item mentions per day was 14.5±3.8 overall: 15.2±3.9 (HSES, M), 15.7±4.0 (HSES, F); 13.7±3.9 (LSES, M), 13.3±2.7 (LSES, F). The 10 items receiving most frequent mentions were: coffee; fried eggs; maize tortilla; bread; milk; rice; cornflakes; plain water; maize tamalito and boiled beans. Nutritional transition is bringing extensive variety to urban Guatemalan youth, including fortified and energy‐rich fare. Funded by Sight & Life and AICR.