介 紹
　　達能營(yíng)養研究中心是非贏(yíng)利性機構遍布世界上15個(gè)國家，集合了在營(yíng)養學(xué)領(lǐng)域有國際聲望的學(xué)者。為便于制定將來(lái)的健康教育戰略，主要為預防兒童期肥胖發(fā)生，達能營(yíng)養研究中心在1997年發(fā)起兒童營(yíng)養研究計劃。

目 的
　　對各個(gè)國家3-17歲兒童營(yíng)養攝入狀況進(jìn)行評價(jià)和比較。

方 法
　　首先，在已設立達能營(yíng)養研究中心的國家包括法國、意大利、西班牙、德國、澳大利亞、比利時(shí)、捷克共和國、中國、加拿大、巴西。收集已發(fā)表的有關(guān)3-17歲兒童營(yíng)養攝入的數據。采用的方法包括：各國專(zhuān)家填寫(xiě)的標準化問(wèn)卷。系統全面地收集1986到1996年間發(fā)表的有關(guān)3-17歲兒童膳食評價(jià)的調查和研究。通過(guò)與資助類(lèi)似調查的公共或私人研究機構聯(lián)系以獲得這些已發(fā)表的數據。利用這些資料，對抽樣方法，調查人群，膳食評價(jià)方法，營(yíng)養攝入指標，按年齡組、性別進(jìn)行匯總和制表。

結 果
　　在大多數國家，針對3-17歲兒童這個(gè)特殊人群進(jìn)行的營(yíng)養調查開(kāi)展的很少。一般說(shuō)來(lái)，營(yíng)養調查都是地方性的，覆蓋幾個(gè)省或地區的調查很少，而具有全國代表性的調查就更少了。除個(gè)別外，通常只有為數不多的兒童參加了調查。中國開(kāi)展過(guò)全國性調查。1996年意大利選擇了5個(gè)地區來(lái)代表全國水平，在35000名兒童中開(kāi)展了營(yíng)養調查。1986-87年加拿大對來(lái)自法語(yǔ)地區的學(xué)齡兒童進(jìn)行大規模抽樣調查。

　　結果發(fā)現：在不同國家之間和同一國家內，以及不同年齡、性別之間能量和宏量營(yíng)養素的攝入有顯著(zhù)性差異，這種差異可能是由于攝入量的真實(shí)差異，或抽樣不具代表性，或不同的膳食調查方法引起的。

　　在數據收集過(guò)程中使用了不同的方法如2-7天稱(chēng)重法，24小時(shí)回顧法，食物頻率表法，膳食史方法）和不同食物成分表，如當地的，其他國家的或生產(chǎn)廠(chǎng)家提供的營(yíng)養信息，在這個(gè)綜述中我們得到的只是國家水平的3-17歲人群營(yíng)養攝入的估計值，因此很難進(jìn)行國家間的比較。

結 論
　　這個(gè)回顧證明需要合適的方法（例如標化的問(wèn)卷和代表兒童膳食的食物成分表）用以評價(jià)和比較不同國家兒童的營(yíng)養攝入，因為營(yíng)養可能在肥胖的發(fā)展中起關(guān)鍵作用，這是理解遍及世界的肥胖流行的關(guān)鍵一步。

Prof. Marcello Giovannini
mailto:marcello.giovannini@unimi.it

Introduction
　　Danone Institutes (DI) are non- profit associations implemented in 15 countries all around the world. They regroup international renown researchers in the field of nutrition. In 1997, DI initiated a research program related to children nutrition in order to benefit future health education strategies, mainly to prevent childhood obesity.

Aims
　　To evaluate the nutritional intakes of 3-17 y old children in each country and to compare these nutritional intakes among the different countries, if possible.

Methodology
　　In a first stage, published data on nutritional intakes of children 3 to 17 years old was collected in 9 countries where DI exists: France, Italy, Spain, Germany-Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, China, Canada and Brazil. The proposed method included a standardized questionnaire to be filled up by relaying experts in each country. Systematic and exhaustive search of surveys and studies with dietary assessment in children aged 3 to 17 years carried out between 1986 and 1996 were reported. The search of published data could be completed with unpublished studies through contact with public and private institutions fund similar investigations. From these results, data of interest including sampling conditions, tested population, methodology of dietary assessment and account of nutritional intakes were summarized and tabulated, pertaining to age sub-groups and gender.

Results
　　In most countries, few studies investigating nutrient intakes have been conducted on the specific population of children aged 3-17. In general, nutritional surveys were local. Few investigations covered provinces or regions and even less had a nation-wide representative sampling. Limited numbers of children were usually involved except for a few exceptions. In China, a national survey was performed. In 1996, an investigation of a large-scale sample (35.000 children) representative of 5 Italian regions was carried out in a nationwide survey of nutritional patterns. In Canada, a large sample of school children from a French area was studied in 1986-87.

　　We found that energy and macronutrient intakes varied markedly both within and among countries, within specific age and gender sub-groups. These variations may reflect either true differences in intakes, unrepresentativeness of study samples, or biases in dietary study methodologies.

　　For data collection, different questionnaires (such as from 2 to 7 days weighed food record, 24-h recall, food frequency, diet history) and food composition tables (local, borrowed from other country, or compiled with either nutritional information from manufacturers and child food items) were used. With this overview we obtained only an estimate of the nutritional intakes of 3-17 y old population at the national level. It was therefore difficult to perform any valid comparison between countries.

Conclusion
　　This overview identifies the need for an appropriate methodology (e.g standardized questionnaire and food table containing items representative of the children diets) to assess and compare nutritional intakes of children from all countries. Since nutrition may play a key role in obesity development, this is a crucial step to understand the alarming increase of obesity prevalence all around the world.