Question 1
Do you believe fourth-graders can accurately depict their diets through a 24-hour recall? And in what ways do you think accurate dietary information should be obtained from young children?
posted by Anonymous @ 6:48 PM
16 comments
16 Comments:
I do not believe that children can accurately depict their diets through a 24-hour recall. Most children are not paying attention to how much they are eating or in some instances, what they are even eating. Plus, there are many adults who do not know portion sizes are what determines "a lot" or "a little" so I can't imagine that many children would know the difference. I think that this is a very interesting study but I cannot seem to figure out why the researchers wanted to test children and not adults. As for other ways to accurately obtain dietary information I think that children need concrete examples such as pictures of the food or plastic food props to have them pick what sizes of what food that they had.
No I do not think that 4th graders can accurately dipict their diets with a 24-hour recall. It is hard for even some adults to remember what they ate let alone a 4th grader. Again, not many adults even know what porton sizes are or look like so I would not expect a child to remember or know what they ate and how much. If they were to use food models of the breakfast and lunch items that were served to the children then it would maybe help the children to point out whether or not they ate a certain food at that meal and about how much of it they ate, but still I think it would be hard for a 9 or 10 year old to remember what they had to eat.
I think that if taken soon enough after the meal, fourth graders may be able to accurately state what they ate. I think that it would become more difficult the longer after the meal they waited and especially if there were other meals that took place during that time. It may be easier to have them keep a food record for every meal. As long as it’s completed shortly after the meal, I think that this could be a fairly good tool. The only other issue that may come with gathering accurate information is portion sizes. Children at this age most likely do not have a good grasp on units of measure for food, so it would probably be a good idea to use food models and/or measuring utensils to help increase accuracy.
Bethany, I agree that this is a very interesting study, but am also wondering why they chose this age group as well as trying to transform qualitative answers into quantitative measures. I do think that for this age group in particular it would be difficult to have completely accurate answers no matter how the data is collected but there has got to be a better way in doing so such as pictures or food models.
I do not think 4th-graders can accurately depict their diets through a 24-hour recall. I don't think 4th-graders pay as much attention to what/how much they eat as older kids and adults do. Children that age may not even remember that they ate a food item until they are reminded. More accurate dietary information could be obtained with this age-group by using yes/no questions versus open-ended ones. I also think that a verbal food frequency questionnaire may be more successful with this age group, but would still fall subject to some of the same self-reporting errors that a 24-hour recall would.
When I was little, I thought all meat was chicken, so I would ask my mom if we were having beef chicken or pork chicken for dinner. Identifying foods can be tricky for kids. I think asking children to identify both "what" as well as "how much" they ate in the past 24 hours is definitely a challenge. I do think that children are typically able to identify what a school lunch consisted of if given a menu of the cafeteria options that day. If given actual-size pictures, they may even be able to roughly estimate portion sizes. I don't think doing a typical 24 hour diet recall is a great strategy with kids unless they have some options to choose from or pictures to look at to jog their memories.
~Anna Taylor
Rose, that's an excellent point--asking the child participants immediately following a meal to reflect on what they ate and estimate portion sizes using food models and measuring cups may be a viable technique to recording a somewhat accurate food recall. However, why not just record it as they sit down with their plate and again as they are about to throw it away and have an adult estimate portion sizes consumed? It's about the same amount of work and probably much more accurate. If we insist on having the children in charge though, equipping them with the measuring utensils necessary to serve their own food might help, but could also skew the amount eaten. Just some thoughts.
~Anna Taylor
I do not believe that children that age can provide an accurate 24-hour recall. As everyone has said, many adults cannot accurately determine portion sizes relative to what they ate - and have a hard time remember what they ate themselves. Although this study was interesting, I do not know how useful it actually is...
Rose, I agree that there are several ways to increase the accuracy of the recall. Having the child record the food items they ate in a log, or showing them pictures of food models are both good ways to improve accuracy.
I do not think fourth-graders can accurately depict their diets through a 24-hour recall. Of course, the standards for how accurate one may interpret the recall can vary for different establishments.
The use of a parent or guardian would be helpful in recalling information. Visual aids such as measuring tools and food models should be utilized to get more accurate information. If the child and parent are present it is important to talk to the child and be sure they understand what is going on and gain a feeling of independence and simply use the parent/guardian as an extra tool. The language content is also important. I would not begin by saying we are going to find out what you ate in the last 24 hours. I would begin by asking about the recent "meal time" and check to see if the child had anything to eat. This will help to avoid some anxiety or wandering minds.
I think that there may be some ways to help children accurately recall how much and what they ate. Performing the 24-hour recall close to the time of eating as well as using the exact same size plate that was used during the meal with food models may significantly increase the accuracy. Without some help though, I do not think children can accurately recall their food intake.
I agree with Meredith that children do not pay as much attention to what and how much they are eating as adults/older kids do. Honestly, most adults do not even pay attention. Visual aids would most likely help all ages recall their dietary intake more accurately.
I think that if a 4th grader was given more attention and some prodding, that their diet could be described using a 24-hour recall, but I do not feel that it would be very accurate. There are times that I can barely remember what I ate the day before and I’m sure that it is even harder for children. Not only that, but I doubt many of them have a good grasp on portion sizes and how big the servings of food that they ate were. As it was stated in the article, I think it would be best to collect the information when it is fresh in the minds, like shortly after they ate. Obviously, the easiest way to obtain accurate dietary information would be to observe and record everything they ate while they are eating or very shortly afterwards. But this approach is not realistic.
I agree with you Amy, that using some type of measuring tools and food models to describe portion sizes and what they ate. I also think you made a really great point about having a parent or guardian there to help them answer. However, parents may be likely to over or underestimate how much their children eat, especially if their kids eat a lot or a little.
I think Meredith has a good point. Children do not pay attention to what they eat and definitely do not pay attention to portion sizes. I think it would be necessary to have an adult present to assist in getting an accurate food record. Asking questions that only have yes or no answers would also be a good idea for this age group. The interviewer could always ask follow-up questions to get additional information or for clarification.
Parent/guardian assistance may be a means of obtaining a more accurate 24-hour food recall, as many people mentioned, but I also agree with Kara's point. A parent/guardian may also skew the data that a child would have normally given based on what they wish their child did/didn't eat. Plus, parents are not usually present during all the meals a child may eat a 24-hour period. Adult assistance, most likely from the researcher or a lunch monitor, would be the better method of obtaining more accurate information.
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