Nutrition Research Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Nutrition Research - Essay Example in the United States. Data obtained from the 1998 Supplemental Children's Survey involving 5,559 children aged birth through 9 years old were also included in the study. These surveys involved 24-hour-recall of food intake for one or two nonconsecutive days. The consumption for two days and appropriate weighting factors were used to calculate the average daily intake of beverage for individuals aged birth through 18 years old. The beverages are categorized as: 100% fruit juice (citrus juice plus non-citrus juices and nectars), total fluid milk, total carbonated beverages (regular and low-calorie), and total fruit drinks and ades (not 100% juice; regular and low-calorie). Breastfeed Infants and children were excluded from the analysis. The total sample size of the study includes 10,648 individuals 50.5% of which are male and 49.5% female. As far as cultural classification is concerned, there were70% white, 15% black; and 17% were of Hispanic origin). Descriptive statistics were calcul ated using SPSS (Version 10.1, 2000, SPSS Inc, Chicago,IL). T-tests were used to compare the mean differences of the data. The study presented the... Based on AAP groupings, the average intake of 100% fruit juice were 0.9, 4.6, and 3.4 oz for the children aged_6 months, 6 months to 6 years, and 7 to 18 years, respectively. Considering the recommended AAP levels for this type of beverage, the last two age groups are within 73% and 94%, respectively. For ages below 6 moths, giving 100% fruit juice was not recommended but the result show about 22% of the population surveyed consumed the beverage. Although it was not recommended for that age group there were no proven detrimental effects to the infants. Trend analysis of the data showed that 100% fruit juice consumption is highest at 2 years, declines steadily, and plateaus around age 7 years. For other beverages consumption, fluid milk is consumed highest, about 2 cups/day, at age 1, but by age 18 it decreases to 3/4 cup/day. Carbonated drink consumption increases as children grow, with a highest increase by age 8. One important findings of the study was that based on the data the consumption of other beverage such as carbonated soft drinks and other fruit drinks and ades which contained artificial sweeteners and flavors were higher compared to the consumption of 100% fruit juice. Disparity even increases from 4 years onwards for other fruit drinks while 8 years onward for carbonated drinks. The consumption level for 100% fruit juice also increased within 94% of AAP recommendation among older children. However, the increase consumption of carbonated beverages as the children mature is an alarming trend as far as the nutrient requirements and the choice of beverage for the children is concerned. Conclusions As far as consumption of 100% fruit juice for infants below 6 months old is concerned, the authors suggested that although there was no conclusive evidence