Dietary Habit Survey of Preschool Children in Uiwang-si, Gyeonggi-do

The purpose of this study was to provide basic information for developing nutrition education programs for preschool children and their families. The subjects were 291 parents whose children went to daycare centers in Uiwang. The questionnaire contained 15 items for children’s dietary habits and six items for parents’ nutritional attitudes. The results of frequency analysis of children’s dietary habits were as follows: 63.9% of children ate meals regularly, however breakfast (46.4%) was usually skipped; 44.0% of children ate a snack more than twice per day; 56.7% did not have late night meals; 49.5% ate out once to twice per week; 89.7% had dinner with family more than three times per week; and 43.6% had picky eating habits. The percentage of children who did not eat vegetables and seaweed was the highest among other food groups. Intake frequencies were low in fatty foods, instant foods, and fast foods. Some correlations were observed between picky eating habits and other dietary habits by cross-tabulation analysis. Intake frequency of non-picky eating children was lower for late night eating and fatty foods but higher for vegetables and seaweed compared to picky eating children. Parents answered that their nutritional knowledge level was normal (72.2%), and nutritional information was collected using the Internet (36.0%). Nutritional value was the most considered point in meal preparation of parents (43.3%), and the most difficult factor in child’s diet management was lack of time due to working (36.1%). Parents cited method of creating a menu (27.0%) and table manners (25.3%) as topics of nutrition education by professionals. Therefore, various nutrition education programs need to be developed to improve healthy dietary habits for children and their families.