+1 (629)348-3199Research Article - Journal of Public Health and Nutrition (2020) Volume 3, Issue 6
The relationship between healthy eating index-2015 and dental caries in preschool children.
Objective: To determine the relationship between the Healthy Eating Index (HEI-2015) and tooth decay in children aged 3-6 years in Karaj, 2020. Design: cross-sectional. Dietary information was estimated from a 24-hour food recall questionnaire and analyzed for nutrient composition. Dietary quality was determined using HEI- 2015, a standard according to the 2015 US Dietary Guidelines. The total number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth (dmft) was assessed through clinical examination and according to WHO standard criteria for caries diagnosis. General information and other variables were collected during the interview. Setting: Karaj, Iran. Subjects: A random sample available from one hundred and eighty-two children (girls and boys, mean age 60.4 months) from a specialized pediatric dental clinic. Results: The Nutritional quality assessment showed that HEI-2015 had a negative correlation with tooth decay (r=-0.177, P=0.017). Overweight / obese children had more decayed teeth (r=0.32, P<0.001). Direct and significant Relationship between tooth decay index with total energy (Kcal/d) consumption (X2=9.78, P=0.002), total fat intake (g/d) (X2=12.19, P<0.001) and inverse and the significant Relationship between fiber (g/d) consumption and tooth decay was observed (X2=5.11, P=0.024). But there was no significant relationship between dmft index and protein and carbohydrate (g/d) consumption as well as age (P>0.05). Conclusions: There is a relationship between tooth decay and the quality of nutrition in children.
Author(s): Neda Sharif Kazem Kouhestani*, Abolghasem Jazayeri, Asal Atai Jafari