Skip to main content

Table 5 Food Group Intakes

From: The quality of girls' diets declines and tracks across middle childhood

 

Recommended # of Servings a

# of Servings b

% Meeting Recommendations

 

Age 2–6

Older Children

Age 5

Age 7

Age 9

Age 5

Age 7

Age 9

Grains

6

9

5.2 ± 1.6

5.6 ± 1.5 δ

6.1 ± 1.7 ψ

23

1

7*

Vegetables

3

4

1.5 ± 1.1

1.7 ± 1.0 δ

1.9 ± 0.9 δ

8

2

3*

Fruit

2

3

1.5 ± 1.2

1.4 ± 1.3

1.3 ± 1.1

27

8

7*

Dairy

2

2–3

2.7 ± 1.4

2.9 ± 1.3

2.9 ± 1.3

69

73

36*

Meat

2

2

1.3 ± 0.7

1.3 ± 0.6 ‡δ

1.5 ± 0.6 δ

13

13

20

Fats and Sweets

N/A

N/A

5.0 ± 2.8

5.2 ± 2.5

5.4 ± 2.6

N/A

N/A

N/A

  1. a Recommendations are from the Food Guide Pyramid [12]. b Mean ± SD; values with different symbols are significantly different at p < 0.0001, except for meat at p < 0.01 * Significant decrease from age 5 to age 9 at p < 0.0001, except for vegetables at p < 0.01