Potential for Prevention of Lifestyle Diseases by Food Choice from Childhood

Abstract

A healthy diet and dietary habits from early elementary school are important for not only physical and mental development but also health after maturation. For this reason, schools have begun providing dietary education with special programs focusing on encouraging vegetable consumption during childhood. One such program resulted in a significant difference in the quantity of vegetables consumed and blood sugar, TG, and HDL levels between children in the program and a control group. These findings indicate that consistent implementation of dietary education programs throughout elementary school may help change children’s food consumption, and that education for children helps them grow into and live as healthy adults.