Breakfast cereal consumption in young children

Objective This study examined the relationship between breakfast cereal consumption and non-milk extrinsic sugars (NMES) intake and the possible implications of this for caries in preschool children. Methods Data from the 1995 UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) of children aged 1.5–4.5 years were reanalysed. Four-day weighed food records and dental examinations were available on 1450 children living in private households in Britain. Children were classified by tertiles (age-adjusted) according to the proportion of energy derived from breakfast cereals, and the amount of NME sugar from cereals. There were no significant differences in social class background between any of the groups. Results Children with diets high in breakfast cereals as a proportion of total energy (top third) had lower proportional intakes of NMES, compared with low consumers of cereals (lowest third). Consumption of sweetened cereals was positively associated with NMES intake. However, caries experience was unrelated to breakfast cereal consumption, whether presweetened or not. Conclusions Although presweetened cereals are relatively high in NMES, their cariogenic potential is probably minimal in the circumstances in which they are normally consumed

Biology · Consumption (sociology · Environmental health · Diet and metabolism studies · Medicine · Nutritional Studies and Diet · Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet · Food Science

• The associations between dietary intakes from 36 to 60 months of age and primary dentition non‐cavitated caries and cavitated caries

  Open Access•Oitip Chankanka, Steven M Levy et al.•Journal of Public Health Dentistry•2012

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