Number of Servings per Dish Eaten by 5th Grade Children: Implications for Better Use of the Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top among School Children

Abstract

A study was carried out to identify the number of servings per dish of children who usually eat at school and at home and examine the implications for nutrition education. A total of 2184 dishes were obtained from 7-day food records completed by 109 school children in the fifth grade in Nagano schools and by 46 children in Tottori schools. In addition, a total of 261 dishes from school lunch menus in Tokyo, Saitama, and Hiroshima during either October or November 2006 were collected and analysed. The number of servings of fish and meat in dishes at school, and of white rice, vegetable salad, marinated vegetables, stir-fried vegetables, fish, and meat in dishes at home were fewer than the number of servings indicated by the Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top. Although the minimum in the Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top is 1 serving, the children tended to eat dishes in a smaller serving size: 40.6% of side dishes, 37.2% of fruit, 19.7% of main dishes, and 14.9% of staple dishes consumed at home contained between 0.25 and 0.65 serving which were categorized as 0.5 serving. Similarly, 83.3% of fruit, 20.6% of side dishes, 17.1% of main dishes, and 11.6% of staple dishes contained 0.5 serving in school lunches. Servings of bread and noodles for school lunch differed among the regions investigated. Introduction of 0.5 serving to the measurements is considered to have been useful to more precisely grasp the children's regular diet. Dish examples in the Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top should be shown with a serving size appropriate for children as well as for adults.