Diet quality tracking from preschool to school age in Brazilian children

Objective To determine changes in diet quality in children from 3 to 8 years of age. Methods Two 24‐hour dietary recalls were collected when the children were 3 to 4 years (n=345) and 7 to 8 years of age (n=307). Diet quality was evaluated using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI). Analyses were performed by group, as all children had previously participated in a randomized trial, and using a paired t‐test. Results For all children, 80% had a diet that needed improvement (HEI = 51–80) at each time point and 14% of children at 3 to 4 years and none at 7 to 8 years had a good diet (HEI = >;80). Diet quality decreased over time for both intervention (67.7±10.4 vs. 59.3±8.1) and control (64.2±11.5 vs. 58.4±7.2) groups. In both groups, the score of fruits, milk and sodium decreased, while the score of saturated fat and variety increased. In the intervention group, the percent change was highest for sodium (−94.1%), fruits (−40.9%), and saturated fat (29.5%), while in the control group, the percent change was highest for sodium (−93.4%), vegetables (44.4%), and saturated fat (38.2%). Conclusion In the cohort studied, we found that the diet of children changed with a trend toward a lower diet quality. While the intake of some HEI components changed favorably, many dietary components were still below recommended levels. Support: CNPq and CAPES, Brazil (F.R. doctoral fellowship, proc. no. 9853–11‐1).