Assessment of the eating habits of a selected group of school age children

The purpose of the research was to assess the eating habits, nutritional status and level of physical activity of a selected group of children. Empirical study was conducted with the use of an authorial questionnaire – survey in May 2013 in a group of 100 parents of children aged 6–9 years attending grades 1–3 of primary school in Gdynia. Eating habits of children were found to be beneficial in terms of regularity and the number of meals consumed, consumption of the first breakfast at home and a second breakfast at school and the lack of snacking in the course of time spent in front of a computer and a TV. As unbeneficial were considered eating habits of children in terms of snacking between main meals during the day and too short time of consumption of last meal before bedtime. It was found that the structure of consumption of individual food products is not compatible with the recommendations of the Institute of Food and Nutrition on low consumption of fruits and vegetables, whole grain products, leguminous plants, fish and high consumption of sweets. This trend may be the cause of shortage of nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fiber and polyunsaturated fatty acids omega-3.