The Influence of Food Stamps and Related Factors on the Diets of Preschool Children

Because of the importance of diet in the growth and development of the preschool child, it seemed worthwhile to investigate the influence of the food stamp program and some selected socio-economic variables on the nutrient intake of preschool children. Various factors related to dietary intake of two groups of preschool children, one group from families using food stamps and one group from similar families not using food stamps, were investigated.The influence of use of food stamps; educational level of the mother; psychological adjustment of the mother; and nutritional education, attitude and knowledge variables on the dietary quality of the child were considered. The diets of most children in both groups were nutritionally adequate in most respects.The diets provided Recommended Daily Allowances of food energy, protein, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, and Vitamin A.Fewer subjects consumed the recommended amounts of calcium and ascorbic acid, although most consumed at least 2/3 of the recommendations. A majority of subjects consumed less than the Recommended Daily Allowance of iron, many had less than 2/3 and some less than 1/2 of the recommendation. In general, the diets of subjects using food stamps tended to be better than those of subjects whose families did not use food stamps, although the differences were generally not statistically significant at the 0.5 level. Advisor: Hazel M. Fox