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How well do children aged 5–7 years recall food eaten at school lunch?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 October 2007

Janet M Warren ,
C Jeya K Henry ,
M Barbara E Livingstone ,
Helen J Lightowler ,
Suzanne M Bradshaw  and
Sylvia Perwaiz
Janet M Warren*
Affiliation:
Nutrition and Food Science Group, School of Biological and Molecular Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane Campus, Headington, Oxford OX3 OBP, UK
C Jeya K Henry
Affiliation:
Nutrition and Food Science Group, School of Biological and Molecular Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane Campus, Headington, Oxford OX3 OBP, UK
M Barbara E Livingstone
Affiliation:
Northern Ireland Centre Diet and Health, University of Ulster, Cromore Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT52 1SA, UK
Helen J Lightowler
Affiliation:
Nutrition and Food Science Group, School of Biological and Molecular Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane Campus, Headington, Oxford OX3 OBP, UK
Suzanne M Bradshaw
Affiliation:
Nutrition and Food Science Group, School of Biological and Molecular Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane Campus, Headington, Oxford OX3 OBP, UK
Sylvia Perwaiz
Affiliation:
Nutrition and Food Science Group, School of Biological and Molecular Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane Campus, Headington, Oxford OX3 OBP, UK
*
*Corresponding author: Email [email protected]
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Abstract

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Objective:

This study aimed to determine the accuracy with which children aged 5 to 7 years were able to report the food eaten at a school lunch.

Subjects/setting:

Two hundred and three children (103 boys, 100 girls) aged 5–7 years were recruited from three primary schools in Oxford.

Design:

Trained investigators made observational records of the school dinner and packed lunch intakes of four or five children per session. Children were interviewed within two hours of finishing the lunchtime meal and asked to provide a free recall of their meal. When the child had completed the recall, non-directive prompts were used to assess if the child was able to remember anything else. Foods recalled were classified as matches (recalled food agreed with observation), omissions (failed to report a food observed) or phantoms (recalled food was not observed).

Results:

The percentage of accurate recall was significantly higher (P<0.01) in children eating packed lunch (mean 70±29%) than in children consuming school dinners (mean 58±27%). This difference may have been due to increased familiarity of foods in packed lunches. Leftovers were not readily reported in this age group. Prompts and cues enhanced recall by all children.

Conclusions:

This study indicated that there was a wide range in the ability of children aged 5–7 years to recall intake from a packed lunch and/or school dinner. This dietary assessment method is unlikely to be suitable at an individual level. Investigators using dietary recall to estimate food intake in children aged 5–7 years need to be aware of the limitations of this method.

Keywords

Lunch recallChildrenDietary assessment
Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , February 2003 , pp. 41 - 47
Copyright
Copyright © CABI Publishing 2003

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