High Fat Intakes Are Unhealthy but do Children Know?

ABSTRACT

The government has set targets for a variety of lifestyle behaviours aimed at improving the health of the nation: one recommendation is a reduction in fat intake. It is in childhood years that lifestyle and eating behaviour are established and knowledge of food developed. Habits commenced in these years are usually the basis for lifestyle, food choice and nutrition ideas in adulthood, as they become so ingrained that, even if detrimental to health, such habits are hard to change. It is, therefore, crucial to establish healthy lifestyles and eating practices at an early age. A national survey of dietary awareness and food preference with respect to fat was undertaken using a fixed response, self‐completion, postal questionnaire administered via schools to 9600 children in Years 7 and 10. This paper highlights some of the results which indicate that although children are shown to be aware of the link between fat consumption and coronary heart disease, they do not possess enough knowledge about the fat content of food to confidently adopt the healthy lifestyle choice of reducing fat consumption.