The food preference of children and adolecents in urban China

Objective To investigate the food preference and its influencing factors of children and adolescents living in urban China,and provide scientific information for developing effective nutrition education programs. Methods Ten thousand two hundred and sixteen preschool and school children were selected from Guangzhou,Shanghai,Jinan and Harbin using astratified multi?stage cluster random sampling method.Questionnaire survey was used for data collection.SAS statistical software was used for data analysis. Results The percentages of preschool children,elementary students and junior students who had food preference 92.6%,87.0%and 69.1%,respectively.The top four foods they mostly liked were fruits,meats,rice and western fast food.Taste and smell were the major contributing factors for their food preference.64.5%,68.5%and 67.7% of them disliked certain kinds of foods.The top four foods they disliked were fat meat,fish,balsam pear and green vegetables.Taste was the major contributing factors for their food dislike. Conclusion Most urban children and adolescents had food preference and dislike that would affect their dietary intakes.Effective nutrition education strategies should be developed in order to foster children'healthy eating practices.