Abstract
Nutritional education and meal planning for preschool children have been based on the Recommended Dietary Allowance for Japanese. In recent years, much attention has been paid to preschool children affected by obesity and hypercholesterolemia. In spite of their reduced daily activity, the children had been continuing to eat in excess, resulting in an over-intake of energy. To study the proper balance of daily energy intake and expenditure in healthy children, resting metabolism, daily energy intake and expenditure were measured in 188 preschool children in two selected kindergartens. The results obtained were as follows: 1) Calculated energy expenditure (kcal/kg/min) based on oxygen consumption (Vo2) and respiratory quotient (RQ) for boys was found to be higher than that for girls. 2) Estimated basal metabolic rate was found to be 2.1% (6-year-old boys) to 18.3% (6-year-old girls) lower than the data cited in the RDA for Japanese, except for 5-year-old boys and 3-year-old girls. 3) The physical activity index (χ) ranged from 0.467 to 0.577 for boys and from 0.363 to 0.426 for girls of 4 and 5 years old. 4) Children who showed higher energy intake were found to show a lower physical activity index, and thus they showed a larger inbalance between energy intake and expenditure.
