Lower fat diets for children did not increase food costs

Food cost may be perceived as a barrier to the adoption of a low-fat diet. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation was to examine the food costs in diets of children who were adhering to a low-fat diet. These children were part of a larger study, The Children's Health Project, examining the effectiveness of a nutrition education intervention in hyper- cholesterolemic children (4-10 years). Dietary intakes were evaluated from three 24-hour recalls collected by telephone at baseline and at 3 and 12 months following the intervention. Food costs were obtained using Nutritionist IV diet analysis software and were compared between two groups of children: a treatment group consisting of children considered at risk (elevated plasma total cholesterol) who received the nutrition education intervention and a control group consisting of children considered to be not at risk (nonelevated plasma total cholesterol) who received no intervention. There were no significant food cost differences between groups for all time periods, nor were there any differences within groups across time periods. These data suggest that among children adhering to a low-fat diet, there was no increase in food costs. Nutrition education programs may benefit by providing educational strategies to reduce or eliminate perceived food cost barriers.