Pupils' Breakfast Diet-behavior And Nutrients Intake In Zhouping County

Background: With the development of social economy, people's living standard improved gradually. However, due to the busy life and work, people tend to neglect the quality of life, especially the quality of breakfast. Having breakfast and selecting proper food for breakfast are very important to human health, especially to pupils. Good diet-behavior and abundant nutrients in breakfast can provide adequate energy and nutrients for pupils' physical and mental development. Lack of breakfast or poor quality of breakfast not only influence pupils' nutrients intake, but also influence their academic records, nutritious status and health. Pupils' diet behavior and nutrients intake in big city of China has been studied, but no corresponding studies in town and county area was found.Objectives: The purpose of the study is to assess pupils' breakfast diet behavior and nutrition status in Zhouping County; find out existing problems; give suggestions and guidance; promote the diet balance of pupils and improve their health.Methods: 1613 pupils from a city elementary school and a town elementary school in Zhouping County were chosen with cluster random sampling method. Questionnaire investigation was conducted including breakfast diet behavior questionnaire and breakfast diet survey questionnaire.For the student questionnaire, students in grade 1-2 were asked by the investigator, and students in grade 3-6 filled the forms themselves. For the parent questionnaire, the parents of pupils filled the 3-days breakfast survey forms with the direction of investigator. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software. Results:1. Among the total pupils, 67.2% pupils have breakfast everyday; 5.4% pupils do not have breakfast; 18.2% pupils seldom pass breakfast; and 9.2% pupils always pass breakfast.2. Among all the pupils been investigated, 55.9% pupils feel hunger in the morning. Among them, 14.7% pupils feel hunger after the second class, while 39.5% after the third class, and 45.8% after the fourth class.3. Only 8.4% pupils have breakfast with good quality. 37.6% pupils have breakfast with average quality, and 54.0% pupils have breakfast with poor quality. There's no difference in the quality of breakfast between city elementary school and town elementary school, or between boys and girls.4. There is significant difference in breakfast locations between pupils in the city elementary school and town elementary schools. In the city elementary school, 46.5% pupils have breakfast at home, 45.7% have breakfast in the booth or fast food restaurant, and 7.8% have breakfast on their way to school. However, in the town elementary school, 57.4% pupils have breakfast at home, 21. 5% have breakfast in booth or fast food restaurant, and 21.1% have breakfast on their way to school.5. Among the 235 pupils who don't have breakfast or seldom have breakfast, 42.5% express they keep the money given by their parents for other use, 38.3% express that they don't have time to eat, 10.6% express that they don't want to eat.6. Among all the pupils, 47.0% believe that breakfast is important, 40.0% think that breakfast is not important, while 13.0% don't know whether breakfast is important.7. In this survey, we find that the pupils' breakfast energy intake and its ratio to RNIs are higher in the town elementary school than in city elementary school. There's no significant difference in energy intake between boys and girls. Pupils of all age groups in city elementary school take in higher protein and fat for breakfast than pupils in town elementary school, while pupils in town take in higher carbohydrate than pupils in city. With the increase of age, pupils take in more calcium. Pupils in 9-10 years old group take in the highest level of iron, while pupils in 7-8 years old group take in the least. The breakfast Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin C intake in both schools are less than 20% RNIs. Conclusion:1. Among the 1613 pupils, 67. 2% have breakfast everyday, 27. 4% have breakfast sometimes, and 5. 4% do not have breakfast. Compare to the town elementary school, the city elementary school have more students having breakfast everyday, and less students not having breakfast. There's significant difference in breakfast locations between pupils in city elementary school and town elementary school. The reasons why they do not have breakfast are varied, mainly include saving the money for allowance, not having time to eat, and not wanting to eat. 55. 9% pupils feel hunger in the morning, 40.0% pupils think that breakfast is not important.2. There's no difference in breakfast nutrition quality between different genders and different schools.3.The pupils' breakfast energy intake and its ratio to RNIs are higher in the town elementary school than in city elementary school. There's no significant difference in energy intake between boys and girls. Pupils of all age groups in city elementary school take in higher protein and fat for breakfast than pupils in town elementary school, while pupils in town take in higher carbohydrate than pupils in city. With the increase of age, pupils take in more calcium. Pupils in 9-10 years old group take in the highest level of iron, while pupils in 7-8 years old group take in the least. The breakfast Vitamin A, Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin C intake in both schools are less than 20% RNIs.