Abstract

Korea used to be a country where individuals ate diets high in vegetables and rice, but in recent years, it has become a country where western-style diets are increasingly popular. Consequently, the age for chronicle disease, including obesity and diabetes, has become lower. The purpose of this study was to compare the dietary habits of kindergarten children between lacto-ovo vegetarian and non-vegetarian families. The data were collected from the children(n=300) at Sahmyook University Kindergarten. The results showed that non-vegetarians had higher intakes of cookies, cakes, processed foods, ice cream, and fast foods, while vegetarian children consumed high amounts of vegetables, fruits, and kimchi. The non-vegetarian children tended to have irregular meals, and ate high-fat meats such as kalbi and samgyupsal. However, the results show it is important that many children among both vegetarian and non-vegetarian families should be encouraged to have appropriate essential nutrients, because a high percentage of children in both groups appeared to have low intakes of energy, vitamin $B_2$, vitamin C, calcium, zinc, iron, etc.

Keywords

• Korean preschool children;
• lacto-ovo vegetarian;
• dietary pattern;
• nutrient intake