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From the Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services' Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion
The Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) has several new and several ongoing projects of interest to the nutrition community.
Adapting the Food Guide Pyramid for Young Children
CNPP seeks to improve young children's diets by adapting and translating dietary guidance into dietary practice. Thus, CNPP is adapting the Food Guide Pyramid for children 2 to 6 years old and developing food guide-based nutrition messages and materials to support child nutrition education efforts.
The Food Guide Pyramid was designed to help healthy Americans 2 years of age and over implement the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which serve as the basis for Federal nutrition policy and food guidance. Children from 2 to 6 years old were selected as the target audience for adapting the Food Guide Pyramid for the following reasons:
(1) Children have unique nutrient needs and requirements and undergo significant growth and developmental changes; (2) research indicates that early food experiences are crucial to food acceptance patterns, food preferences, and food intake regulation throughout life; (3) the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) receives numerous requests for information about feeding young children, particularly guidance about appropriate serving sizes; and (4) USDA is committed to improving the nutritional status of children, including those served by the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP). Furthermore, only 1 percent of children 2 to 9 years of age meet all Food Guide Pyramid recommendations.
CNPP is managing the project in two phases: Development of the technical information (Phase I) and the communication plan for adaptation (Phase II). Phase I includes a number of activities:
*Reviewing the goals and objectives of the current food guide and adapting them for the special needs of young children, their parents, and caregivers;
* examining food selections and typical portion sizes reported for young children in food consumption surveys to determine if currently recommended food patterns based on the Pyramid can reliably meet the established goals and objectives;
*incorporating data on the nutritional quality of child care meals and snacks from the Food and Nutrition Service's Early Childhood and Child Care Study; and
*conducting a series of in-depth discussions with nutrition educators to get input on behavioral and developmental...