Surveying the amount of junk food consumption in under-3-year-old children of rural and urban areas, 1998

With respect to the lack of sufficient vitamin, calorie, minerals and proteins in junk foods, they have the ability of filling child’s stomach and decreasing their appetite, thus, he/she would miss the opportunity of a healthy nutrition. Unfortunately, the nutrition profile of under-3-year-old children is not determined in our country, so the present study was conducted over under-6-year-old children of urban and rural areas in 1998. It was a descriptive study. The study population included 16418 under-3-year-old children of urban and rural areas. Nutrition pattern was determined through a questionnaire. 47.1% of urban and 51.2% of rural children aged 6-12 months have used junk foods including coca, sweets, chocolate and so on. For children aged 12-24 months these figures were 90.3% and 87.7%, respectively. Main nutrients including meat, egg and dairy were used 3 times a week, however, these junk foods were used 9 times a week. With respect to the known complications of junk food consumption, further studies considering the traditional foods through educational programs should be kept in mind. Needless to say, promoting parents’ knowledge could be helpful.