Browsing by Subject "päiväkoti"
Now showing items 1-6 of 6
-
(2021)Background: Preschoolers suffer frequently from infections. Large group sizes and varying hygiene practices may enhance pathogen transmission within preschool settings. Preschool-attributable infections cause economic consequences for society, which is why identifying the related risk factors is of importance. One such may be diet. Appropriate immune defence requires sufficient intakes of energy, protein, polyunsaturated fat, dietary fibre, and numerous micronutrients, whereas excess sugar and saturated fat may be harmful. However, previous nutritional research examining preschoolers’ infections has mainly focused on probiotics. Little research has been done on the role of whole-diet in preschoolers’ susceptibility to infections. Aim: The present study aimed to investigate the associations of dietary patterns with common colds, gastroenteritis, and antibiotic courses among Finnish preschoolers. Methods: The study sample included 721 children aged 3-6 years attending the cross-sectional DAGIS survey. The parents reported retrospectively how many common colds, gastroenteritis, and antibiotic courses their children had experienced during the past year. Children’s food consumption was recorded using a 47-item food frequency questionnaire filled in by the parents. The parents also reported background factors of their children and family. The following three dietary patterns were identified based on the food consumption frequencies using principal component analysis: 1) sweets-and-treats pattern (high loadings of e.g. biscuits, chocolate, and ice cream); 2) health-conscious pattern (high loadings of e.g. nuts, natural yoghurt, and berries); and 3) vegetables-and-processed meats pattern (high loadings of e.g. vegetables, colds cuts, and fruits). Dietary pattern scores were calculated for each child to describe the strength of adherence to each identified dietary pattern. The distributions of the dietary pattern scores were divided into thirds that were labelled low, moderate, and high adherence groups. Negative binomial regression analysis was used to examine the associations between thirds of the dietary pattern scores and the prevalence of common colds and antibiotic courses. Logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the associations between thirds of the dietary pattern scores and a chance of experiencing at least one gastroenteritis. Results: Prevalence of common colds was lower in moderate and high adherences to the sweets-and-treats pattern compared to low adherence (PR=0.89, 95% CI=0.80-1.00; and PR=0.88, 95% CI=0.79-0.99, respectively) and higher in high adherence to the health-conscious pattern compared to low adherence (PR=1.13, 95% CI=1.01-1.27) after adjusting for age, sex, number of children living in the same household, frequency of preschool attendance, probiotic use, and the highest educational level in the family. Moderate adherence to the sweets-and-treats pattern was associated with a lower chance of at least one gastroenteritis (OR=0.63, 95% CI=0.44-0.92) and lower prevalence of antibiotic courses (PR=0.77, 95% CI= 0.59-1.00) compared to low adherence. No significant associations were observed between the vegetables-and-processed meats pattern and the infectious outcomes. Adjustments for the background factors did not modify the associations. Conclusion: The results were unexpected. The associations observed would suggest that favouring unhealthier foods but avoiding healthier foods was linked to better immunity, which is difficult to accept as true. Parents who were most health-conscious of their children’s diet might also have been more conscious of their children’s illness conditions than less health-conscious parents, which may explain the results. Further research with longitudinal designs is needed to determine whether dietary habits play a role in preschoolers’ susceptibility to infections.
-
(2023)Introduction In addition to families and home environments, preschools can shape children’s eating habits. Children’s fruit and vegetable (FV) consumption remains below recommendations. Nutrition interventions should be aimed at young children when eating habits develop and be implemented in influential settings, like preschools. The preferred method to study and measure consumption is by weighing foods. However, weighing is hardly used in preschool-settings especially in group-level research. Aims The aim was to examine the effect of the DAGIS intervention on the consumption of FV in preschool meals. The secondary aim was to determine whether the results differed from the impact of DAGIS intervention on the FV consumption at group level when the amount of plate waste was considered. Materials and methods The DAGIS intervention was a randomized controlled trial (2017–2018) aiming to promote lifestyle and self-regulation skills affecting the energy-balance of Finnish 3–6-year-old. The 23-week intervention included 32 preschools. Vegetable consumption was measured at group level for three days in preschool before and after the intervention by weighing vegetables served, serving waste and plate waste. Data analyses were performed using Chi-square test, t-test, Wilcoxon signed-rank test and linear regression. Results In the follow-up, the median consumption of fresh FV, salad mixes, warm vegetables as a side dish and canned FV (25th; 75th quartile) per child was 81.3 g (55.2; 120.6) in the control group and 72.1 g (65.7; 119.3) in the intervention group. The total consumption of FV per child in the intervention group was not higher than in the control group after intervention. The inclusion of plate waste did not change the results adjusted by municipality. Conclusions There was no increase in FV consumption in the intervention group after intervention compared to the control group. Apart from highlighting FV consumption, future group-level interventions should be targeted at serving of vegetables. They should also critically consider the necessity of collecting plate-waste, especially if it increases research cost and burden.
-
(2013)Lapset ovat jo alle kouluikäisinä hyvin tietosia erilaisista markkinoiden uutuuksista. He keräilevät tavaroita, säästävät rahaa ja toimivat vanhempiensa kautta markkinoilla. Suomessa lapsia on tutkittu kuluttajanäkökulmasta kuitenkin suhteellisen vähän, ja suurin osa näistä tutkimuksista suuntautuu kouluikäisiin lapsiin. Tutkielmassani tarkastelen päiväkodissa olevien lasten kuluttajuutta laadullisin tutkimusmenetelmin. Päiväkoti vastaa yhdessä kodin kanssa lapsen kasvatuksesta, ja lapset voivat viettää päiväkodissa suuren osan lapsuudestaan. Tästä syystä onkin mielestäni tärkeää pohtia myös päiväkodin roolia lapsen kuluttajaksi kasvamisessa. Tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on selvittää, miten kuluttaminen näkyy päiväkodissa lasten leluissa, leikeissä ja puheissa. Lisäksi pohdin, miten kuluttajakasvatus toteutuu päiväkodissa ja millaisia kulutuksen arvoja sen avulla pyritään siirtämään lapsille. Käyttämäni aineisto on kerätty kolmesta päiväkodista, jotka sijaitsevat saman kunnan alueella. Tutkin lapsia ja päiväkodissa tapahtuvia käytäntöjä osallistuvan havainnoinnin avulla. Lisäksi haastattelin myös päiväkodin henkilökuntaa. Havainnoitavia lapsia oli noin 60 ja haastatteluja tein 10 kappaletta. Analyysimenetelmänäni käytin teemoittelua. Tutkimuksessani esitän, että kuluttaminen näkyy päiväkodissa monin eri tavoin. Markkinointi ja mediat näkyvät vahvasti lelupäivien aikana. Kauppaleikissä lapset toistavat vanhemmilta opittua palvelun käsikirjoitusta. Kulutuksesta keskustellaan erilaisten arjen käytäntöjen lomassa. Kuluttajakasvatus on päiväkodeissa usein tiedostamatonta, mutta aikuiset pyrkivät opettamaan lapsille hyvin perinteisiä arvoja, kuten harkitsevuutta, säästäväisyyttä ja tavaroiden kestävää käyttöä. Lasten kulutuspuhe on moniulotteista; toisaalta lapset ovat sisäistäneet aikuisilta harkitsevuuden puhetavan, toisaalta lapset haaveilevat uusista hyödykkeistä ja kommunikoivat keskenään tavaramaailman kautta.
-
(2020)Introduction: Nutrition in early childhood is related to normal development and has an impact on health over the long term. Childhood is a key stage in food education and nutrition and food behaviours for the whole life span are learnt during childhood. In addition to home the day care strongly determines the eating habits the child learns. More than 250 000 Finnish children attend early childhood education and care such as preschool. The meaning of food eaten in preschool to a child’s diet is not yet fully known. Aims: The aim of the study was to asses food consumption and nutrient intake of the same children in and outside preschool. Additionally, this study aimed to examine the quality of the diet in preschool compared to other food environments. Material and methods: The material of this thesis is a part of the DAGIS research cross sectional study. A total of 545 preschoolers aged 3–6 from Southern and Western Finland participated in the study. 3-d food record was used as a food research method. Food consumption between different food environments was compared by using Wilcoxon signed rank test and McNemar-test. Differences in nutrient intake were compared by using a paired t-test. Results: There was a higher proportion of consumers of vegetables (p=0,000), fruits and berries (p=0,000), meat (p=0,0219, fish (p=0,000), cereals (p=0,000), dairy products (p=0,042) and dietary fats (p=0,000) in preschool than other food environments. More than half of the food was eaten in the preschool during the day. Only the consumption of beverages and sugary foods was higher outside the preschool. Food consumed in preschool contained less fat (p=0,009), less saturated fat (p=0,000) and more unsaturated fatty acids (p=0,018 and p=0,000) in relation to energy. Children ate more than half of all rye bread, porridge, vegetable oils and margarine and skimmed milk, less than one-fifth of sugary foods and less than 1 % of butter and fat mixtures in preschool throughout the measurement period. Intake of protein (p=0,000), unsaturated fatty acids (p= 0,000), fiber (p=0,000), vitamin D (p=0,000), folate (p=0,000) and sodium (p=0,000) was higher in relation to energy in preschool than other food environments. Conclusions: During the weekday food consumption was more diverse in preschool compared to other food environments. At the day level of food intake, the food eaten in preschool contained half of the energy, which does not meet the given recommendation. Intake of nutrients that indicate the quality of the diet was divided among food environments. Meals eaten in preschool contained a significant portion of fiber and polyunsaturated fatty acids but also sodium. The results suggest that food served in preschool plays a vital role in children’s nutrition and brings plenty of health-promoting elements to their diets.
-
(2018)Finland has a tradition of children having a “Sweets day”. Sweets day was originally established as a prophylactic measure for dental caries. To my knowledge, the sweets day phenomenon has not been investigated in relation to sugar intake. Previous studies have reported that the intake of dietary sugar is a bit higher than recommended in Finnish children. However, comparing to other countries sugar intake in Finnish children is modest. There are no recent studies on added sugar intake in Finnish children. To my knowledge free sugar has not been studied in any age group in Finland before. The aim of the study was to investigate the prevalence of sweets day, and its association with savory and sugar-sweetened snack and sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption frequency, as well as socioeconomic factors related to sweets day habit. Another aim was to create a method for assessing added and free sugar in food record data and to investigate the intake of added and free sugar, and associations between having a sweets day and added and free sugar intake. The DAGIS study examined health behaviors among Finnish preschool children. The participants were 3–6-year-old children and their guardians. Altogether 66 preschools (n=864) in Southern Finland and Southern Ostrobothnia regions participated in the study. Dietary assessment was done with Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ, n=805) and food a three-day food record (n=813) data. Parents filled (FFQ) for children and reported if the child had a specific sweets day. FFQ data was used to assess the frequency of snack consumption. Parents and daycare personnel filled a 3-day food record for the child. Parents reported background information such as highest education in the family and number of children living in the same household. Food record data was used to assess dietary added and free sugar. Participants were divided in two groups based on their sweets day habit. Pearson’s Chi-square was used to study the association between the sweets day habit and background variables. Mann-Whitney’s U-test was used to compare the consumption frequency of snacks and SSB’s. T-test was used to compare the added and free sugar intakes between the children with and without a sweets day. Altogether 63% of the children had a sweets day. Mean intake of added sugar was 9.0 E% and free sugar 9.8 E%. Children who had a sweets day obtained slightly more added sugar than did the children without a sweets day ((9.2 E% vs. 8.5 E%, p=0.03). Free sugar intake was higher in the sweets day group as well compared to non-sweets day group (10.1 E% vs. 9.3 E%, p=0,01). Having a sweets day was more common in families with less education (p=0.001). Frequency of candy consumption did not differ between the groups. Having a sweets day was associated with more frequent consumption of SSB’s and savory snacks (p=0,007 and p=0,001, respectively). Children without a sweets day consumed more often chocolate (p=0.004) than did the children without a sweets day. Our results suggest that in Finland, having a sweets day is popular, and more common in families with less education. Having a sweets day was associated with slightly higher intake of added and free sugars compared to children who do not have a sweets day. The mean added and free sugar intake did not exceed the recommendations for sugar intake in Finland.
-
(2022)Introduction According to Finnish nutrition recommendations children should eat fruit and vegetables (FV) diversely and at least 250 g/d or five handfuls measured by the child’s hand a day. There are many possible health benefits associated with higher fruit and vegetable diversity (FVD). There is no previous information on children’s FVD in Finland. Aims The main aims were to describe the FVD of 3- to 6-year-old children’s diet in Finland and to analyse whether socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with it. The other aim was to describe which FV species the children consumed. Materials and methods The data used is from the cross-sectional DAGIS survey (n=864) conducted during 2015–2016 in eight municipalities in Finland. The data used in the analyses consisted of 3- to 6-year-old children with three complete food record days (n=760). Ingredient level food data was used to create FV variables. Using these variables, a 3-day FVD score, which indicated the number of different FV species consumed by children during the three days, was calculated for each child. Hierarchical linear model adjusted with the season of food record collection days and children’s age and gender was used to analyse whether SES was associated with FVD. The SES variables used were family relative income, perceived income adequacy and parental educational level (PEL) and all of them were categorized as three-class variables (low, middle and high). Results The median (25th; 75th percentile) of the 3-day FVD score was 10.0 (8.0; 13.0). The low PEL was associated with a lower FVD score in the children’s diet compared to the high PEL. The association remained significant after adjusting for the season of food record collection days and child’s age and gender. No association was found with family relative income or perceived income adequacy. The ten most consumed FV species per gram in children’s diet in decreasing order were juice, apple, banana, cucumber, carrot, tomato, mandarin, pear, strawberry and grapes. Conclusions The children with low PEL had lower FVD than the children with high PEL. Increasing FV consumption in Finland, from the perspectives of both quantity and FVD, is an important task for the public health as it could have important health benefits.
Now showing items 1-6 of 6