August 2010 Blog Summary

The general consensus from question one was that fourth-graders cannot accurately depict their diets through a 24-hour recall. We were all in agreement that most adults even find it difficult recalling what they ate, let alone recognizing what portion sizes are.

Accurate dietary information could be obtained from young children using concrete examples, food models, pictures of food and measuring utensils. Meredith made a great point when she stated that more accurate information could be gathered when using yes and no questions, instead of open-ended questions for fourth-graders.

In regards to the second question, most of us thought the accuracy of the 24-hour recalls was in jeopardy since the qualitative answers were converted into quantitative terms by the researchers. Rose made a good point when she commented “I think that if the children’s perceptions of portion sizes are skewed, they may give an inaccurate answer even if they were asked to be more specific.”

Anna brought up something interesting – why shouldn’t children be more familiar with portion sizes at an earlier age? Bethany commented that portion sizes could even be integrated into math class.

The third question yielded similar responses, as well. Basically, food diaries written by an adult would be the best option to get an accurate representation of a child’s dietary intake. Recording food intake as soon as possible will also assist the accuracy. This age group makes it difficult to be error-free when collecting data, seeing as children often don’t have the food and portion knowledge, so the assistance of an adult is extremely useful.

Fantastic job on this month’s blog!