Dietary Habits of Our Youths By: Bronwyn Furlong MDM4U Presented to: Miss Abi-Zeid Hillcrest High School

What Are The Dietary Habits of Our Youths? Are the eating habits of children in Canada (ages 11 to 15), improving or getting worse? Do male or female youths eat healthier? Are children getting the right amounts of vitamins and nutrients?

Variables To find out how well children are eating in Canada, the different variables looked at are: sex age (11 to 15) years (1990, 1994, and 1998) how often they eat: more than once a day, once a day, at least once a week, seldom, and never

Hypothesis I expect to find that children are not eating as healthy as they should. I think that as the years increase, children are eating more junk foods, and less healthy food. I also expect that females are eating better than males. The reason I believe this is simply because of how girls think. Many young girls want to stay fit, and have a nice body. Some do diet, and a great way to diet is not eating less food, but healthier foods. So generally, I hope to find that children are eating healthy but it’s unlikely.

Here is a mind map, demonstrating how my topic is organized:

Here is a table that shows the different means (%) of males, ages 11 to 15, who ate fruits and vegetables from 1990 to 1998. As shown, the number of males who eat fruits and vegetables at least once a day is decreasing, while the number of males who eat fruits and vegetables at least once a week, seldom and never is increasing; this meaning that young boys aren’t getting the vitamins and nutrients we receive from fruits and vegetables, starting off bad dietary habits for young children.

Graph: mean vs. time (males: fruits and vegies) This graph shows how the number of males eating fruits and vegetables at least once a week is decreasing, and those eating seldom and never is increasing. However, the number of boys eating fruits and vegies at least once a week/once a day is a lot higher than that of boys never eating fruits and vegetables.

Here is a table that shows the different means (%) of females, ages 11 to 15, who ate fruits and vegetables from 1990 to 1998. By comparing this table to the previous ‘males’ table, we can see that there are more females who eat fruits and vegetables than males. More males never eat fruits and vegetables than females, and there is an equal amount of males and females who eat fruits and vegetables at least once a week.

Graph: mean vs. time (females: fruits and vegies) This graph shows how the percentage of females eating fruits and vegetables at least once a day is decreasing. This number is higher than that of the males but the number of females who ate fruits and vegies seldom or never, in 1998 is lower than that of males (7%); which means that females, overall, are eating better than males ages 11 to 15.

Here’s what we have so far: Females are eating more fruits and vegetables than males, and more often For both males and females, the percent eating fruits and veggies at least once a day/at least once a week is decreasing, while the percent eating fruits and veggies seldom or never is increasing. In the years 1990, 1994, and 1998, children are not getting the right amounts of nutrients they require (such as Vitamins A, B, C which come from carrots, turnips, citrus fruits, cabbage, etc.) This can also lead to long term effects, such as cancer, heart diseases, and strokes.

Here is a table that shows the different means (%) of males, ages 11 to 15, who ate junk foods from 1990 to 1998. Generally, the percent of males eating junk food is increasing as the years go by, but because no data was found for chocolate and candy, for 1998, it messed up the calculations and trend, making it seem as if the percents decreased in 1998.

Graph: mean vs. time (males: junk foods) This graph shows that the majority of the 11 to 15 year old boys eat candy, fast food, drink soft drinks and coffee at least once a week, and that the percentage of boys who never eat junk food is increasing, meaning that they are eating less and less junk foods, and hopefully, more nutritious foods.

Here is a table that shows the different means (%) of females, ages 11 to 15, who ate junk foods from 1990 to 1998. It appears that females eat junk foods less often than males do, proving my hypothesis right; that females are eating better than males.

Graph: mean vs. time (females: junk foods) By looking at this chart, we can see that very little girls said that they eat junk foods (chocolate, candy, fast foods, drink soft drinks and coffee). This isn’t yet proof that the young girls in Canada were eating better than males in 1990 - 1998, so we’ll just have to further see, and compare the two.

Here’s a Summary of What We Have: Both males and females are eating less and less junk foods as the years increase. But this data isn’t necessarily accurate, because of the uncollected data for 1998, so we can only generalize from the previous years, and say that children are eating junk foods on an average of at least once a week.

Here are 2 tables: Males vs. Females (Bread)

Here are 2 graphs: Males vs Here are 2 graphs: Males vs. Females These graphs demonstrate the difference between males and females eating whole wheat or rye bread in the years 1990 to 1998. For both boys and girls, the percent of children who eat bread often and never is decreasing, and the number of children who eat bread at least once a week is increasing, so this evens out, saying that boys and girls are eating less bread as the years increase.

Here are 2 tables: Males vs. Females (Milk)

Graph: mean vs. time (females: whole wheat/rye bread) Females seem to be drinking less milk, less often. The numbers of girls who never and seldom drink milk is rather high, compared to those who drink milk at least once a week. Milk is a necessity to our diet. We receive calcium from milk, which we need to obtain a healthy bone structure. With girls drinking less milk, eating less bread, and more junk food, it seems as dietary habits of our youths are only getting worse.

Graph: mean vs. time (males: whole wheat/rye bread Here, the percent of males who drink milk at least once a week is about the same, but the percent of males who drank milk more than once a day is decreasing, while the percent of that who never or seldom drank milk is increasing; meaning that boys, ages 11 to 15, are drinking milk less often.

This pie chart shows the number of children who never ate each food group during the most recent year (1998).

Conclusion I have concluded that:  The eating habits of children ages 11 to 15, in Canada are getting worse as the years increase; by eating less fruits, vegetables and bread, drinking less milk and eating more junk foods.  Females do not appear to be eating healthier than males (eating less junk, more fruits and veggies, but less milk and bread)  From the pie graph on the previous page, I have concluded that the number of children who say they never drink milk is much higher than that of children who never eat/drink any other food group, meaning that children aren’t getting the right amounts of calcium their bones require, meaning that children are not getting the right amounts of nutrients and vitamins these foods provide.

The End