Abstract
Background
Diet quality indexes are useful tools to measure diet quality because they compare
dietary intakes against recommendations. A dietary quality index for Asian preschool-aged
children is lacking.
Objective
The aims of this study were to develop and evaluate a dietary quality index for preschool-aged
children (ie, the DQI-5) based on Singapore dietary recommendations and to examine
diet quality in a cohort of 5-year-old children. An additional aim was to assess associations
between sociodemographic characteristics and DQI-5 scores.
Design
A secondary analysis was conducted using dietary intake of children from the Growing
Up in Singapore Towards healthy Outcomes mother–offspring cohort assessed in 2015-2016
using a validated food frequency questionnaire. The sociodemographic data were assessed
at recruitment between June 2009 and September 2010. The DQI-5 was evaluated using
a construct validity approach, whereby nutrition parameters associated with diet quality
were studied.
Participants and setting
Participants were 767 Singaporean children aged 5 years of Chinese, Malay, or Indian
ethnicity.
Main outcome measures
The main outcome measures were the DQI-5 scores and the sociodemographic characteristics
associated with diet quality.
Statistical analyses performed
Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to evaluate differences in adherence to dietary recommendations
across DQI-5 tertiles. Linear multiple regression analysis was performed to identify
sociodemographic characteristics that were associated with diet quality in the children.
Results
The DQI-5 consists of 12 food and nutrient components, with a minimum score of zero
and a maximum score of 110 points. The higher scores indicate a healthier diet, the
mean ± SD DQI-5 score for the children was 61.6 ± 13.2. DQI-5 components with low
scores included whole grains, vegetables, and fatty acid ratio, whereas total rice
and alternatives and milk and dairy products components were overconsumed by 18% and
24.4% of children, respectively. Children with higher scores were more likely to meet
dietary recommendations and had higher intake of nutrients such as dietary fiber,
iron, vitamin A, and beta carotene. Children whose mothers were of Malay ethnicity
and whose mothers had low income, an education below university, and shared primary
caregiver responsibilities were more likely to have lower DQI-5 scores.
Conclusions
The DQI-5 scores revealed diets to be low for several components and excessive for
a few. The DQI-5 developed for preschool-aged children in Singapore had adequate construct
validity.
Keywords
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Biography
M. R. Rolands is a master’s degree student, research in nutrition and dietetics, Department Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Professions, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Bern, Switzerland.
Biography
K. Van der Horst is head, research in nutrition and dietetics, Department Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health Professions, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Bern, Switzerland.
Biography
J. Y. Toh is a senior research officer, Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science, Technology, and Research, Singapore.
Biography
R. Sugitano is a doctoral degree student, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore and National University Health System, Singapore.
Biography
W. L. Yuan is a postdoctoral researcher, Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science, Technology, and Research, and a postdoctoral researcher, Université de Paris, CRESS, Inserm, Paris, France.
Biography
Y. S. Lee is a principal investigator, Singapore Institute for Clincial Sciences, Agency for Science, Technology, and Research; professor, Department of Pediatrics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore; and a senior consultant, Division of Paediatric Endocrinology, Khoo Teck Puat-National University Children's Medical Institute, National University Hospital, National University Health System, Singapore.
Biography
K. H. Tan is a professor, Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School, Singapore; and a senior consultant, Department of Maternal Fetal Medicine, KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, Singapore.
Biography
F. Yap is a clinical professor, Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School, Singapore; a senior consultant, Department of Pediatric Endocrinology, KK Women's and Children's Hospital, Singapore; and an associate professor, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Biography
K. M. Godfrey is a professor, Medical Research Council Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom; and an honorary consultant, National Institute for Health Research Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, University Hospital Southampton, NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton, United Kingdom.
Biography
J. G. Eriksson is executive director and programme director, Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore; a professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore; program director, Folkhälsan Research Center, Helsinki, Finland; and chief physician, Department of General Practice and Primary Health Care, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
Biography
Y.-S. Chong is chief clinical officer, Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science, Technology, and Research, Singapore; and a professor, Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Biography
M. F.-F. Chong is principal investigator, Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore; and an assistant professor, Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore and National University Health System, Singapore.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 18, 2022
Accepted:
June 15,
2022
Received:
December 17,
2021
Footnotes
Supplementary materials: Tables 2 and Figures 2 and 3 are available at www.jandonline.org
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST K. M. Godfrey has received reimbursement for speaking at conferences sponsored by companies selling nutrition-related products and is part of an academic consortium that has received research funding from Abbott Nutrition, Nestec, BenevolentAI Bio Ltd, and Danone.
FUNDING/SUPPORT The Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes cohort study was funded by the Singapore National Research Foundation’s Translational and Clinical Research (TCR) Flagship Programme and was administered by the Singapore Ministry of Health’s National Medical Research Council (NMRC), Singapore (NMRC/TCR/004-NUS/2008 and NMRC/TCR/012-NUHS/2014). Additional funding was given by the Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, Agency for Science Technology and Research, Singapore. K. M. Godfrey is supported by the UK Medical Research Council (MC_UU_12011/4), the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) (NF-SI-0515-10042), NIHR Southampton 1000DaysPlus Global Nutrition Research Group (17/63/154) and NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre (IS-BRC-1215-20004), the British Heart Foundation (RG/15/17/3174), and by the European Union (Erasmus+ Programme ImpENSA 598488-EPP-1-2018-1-DE-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP).
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01174875.
Identification
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