A Summary of Conference Recommendations on Dietary Fiber in Childhood

Fiber Has Important Health Benefits in Childhood Diet in childhood and adolescence influences not only the health of the child, but also the future health of the adult. Therefore, the optimal diet during these formative years must be adequate to support normal growth and development during childhood, as well as to establish a nutritional foundation for the prevention of diet-related chronic diseases among adults, such as coronary heart disease, some cancers, stroke, adult-onset diabetes, obesity, and hypertension.1-10 During the course of this conference the current diet of US children was reviewed. Compared with national guidelines, children consume higher than recommended amounts of total and saturated fat and cholesterol and less than recommended amounts of complex carbohydrate and fiber (Table 1, Figs 1-6). Data on trends over time reveal that children's diets are currently lower in total fat, particularly saturated fat, compared with previous years. From 1974 to 1988 the percent of energy from total fat in children's diets has decreased from 38% to 36% and from 16% to 13% for percent of energy from saturated fat. Total sodium intake has increased slightly from 3.3 g (1974) to 3.7 g (1988), but there have been virtually no changes in dietary fiber intake, averaging about 12 g/d or 5 g/1000 calories (kcal).11-17 National food consumption surveys show that consumption of vegetables among children has decreased significantly between 1977 and 1987. In addition, although there have been positive changes in children's diets toward reduced fat intake, approximately 73% still have fat intakes greater than 30% kcal; 66% had saturated fat intake greater than 10%; and 54% had dietary cholesterol intake greater than 100 mg/1000 kcal.11,12