Fruit and vegetables are similarly categorised by 8–13-year-old children

Abstract

Objective: This exploratory study assessed how 8-13-year-old children categorised and labelled fruit and vegetables (FaV), and how these were influenced by child characteristics, to specify second-level categories in a hierarchical food search system for a computerised 24 h dietary recall (hdr). Design: Two sets of food cards, sixty-seven for fruit (F) and sixty-four for vegetables (V), with pictures and names of FaV from ten professionally defined food categories were sorted, separately, by each child into piles of similar foods. Demographic data, BMI and 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) taster status were obtained. Setting: Participants attended the Children's Nutrition Research Center in the summer of 2006. Subjects: In all, 152 8-13-year-old children, predominantly English-speaking, of whom sixteen were predominantly Spanish-speaking. Results: Children created an average of 8?5 (5?3) piles with 7?9 (11?4) cards per pile for the F, and an average of 10?1 (4?8) piles with 6?2 (7?9) cards per pile for the V. No substantial differences in Robinson clustering were detected across subcategories for each of the demographic characteristics, BMI or PROP sensitivity. Children provided clusters names that were mostly 'Taxonomic -Professional' labels, such as salads, berries, peppers, for both F (51?8 %) and V (52?1 %). Conclusions: These categories should be tested to assess their ability to facilitate search of FaV items in a computerised 24 hdr for children in this age group.

The Automated Self-Administered 24-Hour Dietary Recall for Children, 2012 Version, for Youth Aged 9 to 11 Years: A Validation Study

“…7,8 For children, having child-generated food categories, 9-11 pictures of foods, 12 and different sizes of food images on the same screen 13 may help improve recall speed and/or accuracy. 14 Examples of computerized 24hDRs include the Food Intake Recording Software System (FIRSST), 15,16 the Young Adolescents’ Nutrition Assessment on Computer (YANA-C), 8,17,18 and the Automated Self-Administered 24-hour Dietary Recall for children (ASA24-Kids).…”

Diverse Food Items Are Similarly Categorized by 8- to 13-year-old Children

“…Methods similar to those used in this study were applied to different groups of food items: mixed foods (19), fruit and vegetables (20), and grain foods (21). Inter study comparisons revealed Script and Taxonomic categories were also the most used in the other reports, but in the case of the Mixed dishes study, Specific Foods was the second most commonly used category (19).…”

“…Children classified and labeled foods depending on the context of other foods in the set. For example, corn was categorized under Meal (lunch or dinner) in this card sort and under Vegetables when grouped in a Mixed Dishes (19) card sort, and in a vegetable sub category in a Vegetable card sort (20). Milk was categorized in Drinks in this card sort, but Dairy in the Mix Dishes card sort (19).…”

Older adults’ household cooking: card sort analyses

“…Limitations of this technique include restricting the participants to the items listed in the card deck, a lack of in-depth of information about the item placement in the categories, and the exclusion of illiterate participants when words are used (Weller and Romney, 1988). Examples of card sorts within food research include assessing diet and understanding how adults and children categorize food (Beltran et al, 2008;Blake et al, 2007;Lynch and Holmes, 2011;Sepulveda et al, 2009;Sherwood et al, 2003).…”