What's Enough? A guide to age-appropriate food portion ... - NDR-UK

What’s Enough? A guide to age-appropriate food portion sizes
Dietitian’s User Guide
Introduction
This resource has been designed to educate families on age-appropriate portion sizes as part of a healthy balanced diet and lifestyle. The target
group is children between the ages of 2 and 18 years. Due to the wide age-range it can be used to encourage a whole family approach to
adapting portion sizes.
This guide will provide you with background information on the resource’s development and how to use this when prescribing an energy
appropriate diet for your patients. The energy level prescribed for a patient will be based on The Scientific Advisory on Nutrition (SACN) 2011
Energy Requirements. As a Dietitian you may want to use your clinical judgement to adjust the SACN 2011 Energy Requirements where
appropriate.
Development of the Resource
This resource was developed in response to a need identified by specialist Dietitians for parental information on age-appropriate food portion
sizes. Dietitians recognised that there are existing healthy eating resources available for families to use however there is little to inform on
selecting appropriate food portion sizes for children of all ages.
A Guide to Using the Patient Resources
This resource is designed for use within a one-to-one setting and in conjunction with existing resources to aid with appropriate food selection.
Depending on your patients’ needs you may need to suggest that they follow the daily intake for a different age group from that of their own. This
may not be psychologically acceptable to them or their family therefore as an alternative you could alter the number of portions in a food group
for example reduce carbohydrate, protein or snack sections accordingly and/or recommend that they participate in more/less physical activity.
The Methodology and Terminology Used to Calculate Calories per Portion for Each Age Group:
The underlying principle for calculating the food portion is based on keeping a similar number of food portions per day for each food group and
adjusting the size of portion depending on the age category. The following tables and notes describe this in more detail.
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Table 1: Boys
Age Range:
2-3y boys
Kcal per
day
2-3y boys kcal
per portion
(servings per
day)
4-6y
Boys kcal per
day
4-6y
boys kcal per
portion
(servings per
day)
7-10y boys
kcal per day
7-10y boys
kcal per
portion
(servings per
day)
11-14y boys
Kcal per day
11-14y boys kcal
per portion
(servings per
day)
15-18y
Boys
kcal per
day
15-18y
boys kcal per
portion
(servings per
day)
18-60y
boys kcal
per day
18-60y boys
kcal per
portion
(servings per
day)
Fruit & vegetable 197 39 (5) 274 55 (5) 315 63 (5) 355 71 (5) 441 88 (5) 400 80 (5)
Bread, rice and
pasta 328 66 (5) 549 91 (6) 630 105 (6) 829 118 (7) 1175 147 (8) 800 133 (6)
Meat, fish and
alternative 131 66 (2) 240 120 (2) 414 138 (3) 466 155 (3) 579 193 (3) 525 175 (3)
Milk and dairy 228 76 (3) 232 77 (3) 266 89 (3) 300 100 (3) 372 124 (3) 338 113 (3)
Fats 92 31 (3) 129 43 (3) 148 49 (3) 167 56 (3) 207 69 (3) 188 63 (3)
Snacks 112 25 (4) 57 25 (2) 43 25 (2) 238 25 (9) 232 25 (9) 250 25 (10)
Total Calories Per
3005
day 1088 1480 1816 2354
2500
Table 2: Girls
Age Range:
2-3y girls
Kcal per
day
2-3y girls kcal
per portion
(servings per
day)
4-6y girls kcal
per day
4-6y girls
kcal per
portion
(servings per
day)
7-10y girls
kcal per day
7-10y girls
kcal per
portion
(servings per
day)
11-14y girls
Kcal per day
11-14y girls kcal
per portion
(servings per
day)
15-18y
girls kcal
per day
15-18y girls
kcal per
portion
(servings per
day)
18-60y
girls kcal
per day
18-60y girls
kcal per
portion
(servings per
day)
Fruit & vegetable 186 37 (5) 247 49 (5) 278 56 (5) 295 59 (5) 338 68 (5) 320 64 (5)
Bread, rice and
pasta 311 62 (5) 494 82 (6) 557 93 (6) 882 98 (9) 1017 113 (9) 640 107 (6)
Meat, fish and
alternative 124 62 (2) 216 108 (2) 365 122 (3) 387 129 (3) 443 148 (3) 420 140 (3)
Milk and dairy 216 72 (3) 209 70 (3) 265 78 (3) 249 83 (3) 285 95 (3) 270 90 (3)
Fats 87 29 (3) 116 39 (3) 131 44 (3) 138 46 (3) 158 53 (3) 150 50 (3)
Snacks 79 25 (3) 96 25 (4) 137 25 (6) 225 25 (9) 190 25 (8) 200 25 (8)
Total Calories Per
day 1003 1378 1703 2176 2431 2000
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Notes
Note 1: The food portions have been calculated based on energy, as the different food groups have a mixture of macronutrients. This allows for
macronutrient variation between the food groups for example dairy products will be made up of protein, fat and carbohydrate. This is also how
the proportion of energy from each food group is calculated.
Note 2: It is assumed that approximately 16% of energy is from fruit and vegetables, 32% of energy is from carbohydrate based foods, 21% of
energy from meat, fish and alternatives, 13.5% of energy from dairy, 7.5% of energy from fat, 10% of energy from ‘snacks’ for the 3-18 year old
age group.
Note 3: The only group where there will be a change to the percentage energy from each food group is the 2-3 year age group. This group
requires slightly more fat and less protein, therefore it is assumed that approximately 16% of energy is from fruit & vegetables, 32% from
carbohydrate based foods, 16% energy from meat, fish and alternatives, 18.5% energy from dairy, 7.5% energy from fat, 10% energy from
‘snacks’.
Note 4: Based on the above assumptions the energy for each age group was calculated (Ref; Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN)
2011 Energy Requirements) and the corresponding weight of the food group calculated.
Note 5: Photographs to demonstrate suggested snacks are shown in the resource; 1 snack = 25kcals, 2 snacks = 50kcals, 3 snacks=75kcals
and 4 snacks=100kcals. A ‘snack allowance’ has been calculated for each gender and age-group.
Note 6: It is not intended that the resource should be used to provide a daily diet-plan using only the 35 foods demonstrated, as this is
unrealistic. The Dietitians on the Resource Development Group used the 35 foods to create a daily meal plan and then analysed these using
Diet Plan software. The results of this analysis showed that the average percentage energy from fat was 25% which is lower than the
recommended level of 35%.
Photographs of the Food Portions
The photographs of the food portions have been split into 2 groups; boys and girls and each portion photo appears with a text description
underneath stating the weight and the ‘handy’ measure.
The Daily Meal Plan
The Daily Meal Plan can be used with the patient to help them understand what a day’s intake of food can look like. It has been left blank to
allow the Dietitian to discuss favourite foods with the patient and fill out the plan together.
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