Contribution of growing-up milks to the diets of Irish children aged 12–36 months

Abstract

Over the last decade, growing-up milks have become available commercially in Ireland for children aged 12-36 months to complement a balanced diet and to help reduce the risk of nutrient inadequacies. The aim of this paper is estimate the intake and contribution to the energy and nutrient intakes of growing-up milks in Irish children aged 12-36 months. Analyses were based on data from the National Pre-School Nutrition Survey (2010-2011), a nationally representative survey of food consumption in 1-4 year old Irish children (www.iuna.net). A 4-day weighed food diary was used to collect food intake data and nutrient intakes were estimated using WISP ©, which is based on McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods 6th edition(1) and the Irish food composition database(2). Growing-up milks were consumed by 20% of children aged 12-36 months (12-24m: 25%; 24-36 m: 14%) with an average daily intakes among consumers of 360 ml for 12-24 month olds and 298 ml for 24-36 month olds. The table below presents the contribution of growing-up milks to mean daily energy and nutrient intakes in consumers only (n = 49). Relative to energy, growing-up milks contributed a greater proportion of the mean daily intakes of dietary fibre, calcium, iron, zinc, riboflavin, vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin D, a lower proportion of protein, saturated fat, sodium, niacin and vitamin B6, and similar proportions of carbohydrate, fat, thiamin, folate and vitamin B12. Growing-up milks make an important contribution to overall dietary balance and serve as a rich source of critical nutrients such as iron and vitamin D for which there is a risk of inadequacy in this age group. (Table Presented).