Income determines the nutrient intake pattern in preschoolers ‐ results of a feasibility study

Understanding what preschoolers are eating is an important step to early childhood obesity prevention. This research explored preschool children's food intake at two urban preschools. A convenience sample of 43 children from two urban childcare sites was enrolled in this study (age: 3.4 ± 0.5yr, 58.8% African American (AA), 41.8 % male). After enrollment, caregivers (GC) filled out a demographic questionnaire and a one‐week food diary. The food diary was divided into two parts: The first part was completed by GCs to report their child's food intake after school and on the weekend; the second part was recorded by researchers based on their observation of participants at school meal times. The data were then analyzed using ESHA program. Based on GCs' self‐report, 97.7% had “some college” and 38 % (16) of participants live in households with an income < $22,000. All 16 of these lower income families were from Site 1. Preschoolers from Site 1 were found to have significantly higher protein, fat, dairy, saturated fat, cholesterol, meat and folate intakes and less vitamin C intake than those from Site 2 (p<0.05). When only AA families from both sites were compared, preschooler from Site 1 had significantly higher intake of saturated fat and less vitamin C consumption. It was further identified that preschoolers in Site 1 with family income <$22,000 had significantly higher fat intake than those with >$22,000, suggesting that differences between the 2 sites may be associated with income status rather than race/ethnicity. Further analysis is needed to better understand the relationship between education, lower income and fat consumption.