NUTRITION KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDE, AND BEHAVIOR OF TAIWANESE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN
Resource
ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CLINICAL NUTRITION v.16 pp.534-546
Journal
ASIA PACIFIC JOURNAL OF CLINICAL
Journal Volume
v.16
Journal Issue
NUTRITION
Pages
534-546
Date Issued
2007
Date
2007
Author(s)
LIN, WEI
HANG, CHI-MING
PAN, WEN-HAM
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to understand nutrition
knowledge, attitude, and behavior in Taiwanese elementary
school children, and the relationship of these various
components. The results indicated that children's knowledge
was fair in nutrition basics, but poor in 'the physiological
function of nutrients', 'relationships between diet/
nutrients and disease', and 'the daily serving requirement
for different food groups'. Children in general valued the
importance of nutrition, but they did not concern the health
benefit of foods in food selections. Their dietary quality
was not satisfactory, and the diet of most children did not
meet the recommended serving requirements for milk,
vegetable, fruit, and cereals and grains groups. Positive
relationships were found among nutrition knowledge, attitude
, eating- about-nutrition behavior and dietary quality score
. The restraint or disinhibited eating behavior of 4(th) to
6(th) graders was not serious, but a large number of
children already performed some self-controlling practices
to avoid obesity, but not frequently. One fourth of the
students skipped meals, especially breakfast, and one
quarter of 4(th) to 6(th) graders prepared their own
breakfast; which may have some impact on children's diet
quality. A gap was found between nutrition knowledge,
attitude and eating behavior, especially vegetable and fruit
consumption, indicating that the attitude toward eating for
health was not strong in this age group. Future nutrition
education for school children should not only include food
serving requirements of food groups, but also apply
appropriate theories to improve the motivation for healthy
eating.
Subjects
elementary school children
nutrition knowledge
nutrition attitude
nutrition behaviour
dietary quality
SDGs
Type
journal article