Association of meal and snack patterns with micronutrient intakes among
Greek children and adolescents: data from the Hellenic National
Nutrition and Health Survey
Background The present study aimed to examine how different meal and
snack patterns are associated with micronutrient intakes and diet
quality among a nationally representative sample of Greek children and
adolescents aged 1-19 years from the cross-sectional Hellenic National
Nutrition and Health Survey (n = 598). Methods Meal and snack patterns
were derived using 24-h dietary recalls. Mean adequacy ratio (MAR) was
used as an overall measure of diet quality. Multiple linear regression
adjusted for covariates was conducted to examine associations between
eating patterns, nutrient intakes and MAR. Results Four most frequently
reported eating schemes were identified including breakfast (B), lunch
(L), dinner (D) and two snacks (S) (20.9%); B, L, D and 1S (16.2%); B,
L, D and 3S (10.8%); and B, L and D (7.9%). Based on these schemes,
the daily consumption of all main meals from the majority of the sample
was highlighted. In children and adolescents aged 4-19 years, increasing
snack frequency was positively associated with intakes of vitamin D,
vitamin K, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, folate, magnesium,
copper and selenium. An inverse association was recorded for vitamin E,
vitamin B-6, calcium and iron. Among children aged 1-3 years, only
niacin and copper were significantly associated with number of snacks,
with the group of ‘B-L-D-2S’ presenting the highest intake. As for the
overall diet quality, among all participants, there was no significant
association of MAR with the type of meal and snack pattern, and thus the
snack frequency. Conclusions Snacking behaviour is a common practice
among children and adolescents. Modifying current snack foods with
nutrient-rich choices could lead to an improvement of their diet’s
nutritional quality
