Transcript Dietary Habits of Our Youths

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.
Mind Map
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.
Year
At Least Once a
Day
More Than
Once a Week
Seldom /
Never
1990
44.8
35.2
20
1994
40.8
35.4
23.8
1998
33.1
38.1
28.8
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
Mean (%)
50
40
30
20
10
0
1990
1994
1998
Year
At Least Once a Day
Seldom/Never
At Least Once a Week
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.
Year At Least Once a
More Than
Seldom /
Day
Once a Week
Never
1990
50.7
35.0
14.3
1994
46.8
36.4
16.8
1998
40.1
38.1
21.8
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
60
Mean (%)
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.
40
20
0
1990
1994
1998
Year
At Least Once a Day
Seldom/Never
At Least Once a Week
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.
Year
At Least Once a
Day
More Than
Once a Week
Seldom /
Never
1990
18.6
57.3
24.1
1994
19.2
55.9
24.9
1998
16.7
48.7
34.6
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
Mean (%)
80
60
40
20
0
1990
1994
1998
Year
At Least Once a Day
Seldom/Never
At Least Once a Week
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.
Year
At Least Once a
Day
More Than
Once a Week
Seldom /
Never
1990
13.0
56.2
30.8
1994
13.4
54.1
31.6
1998
13.2
45.0
41.8
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
60
Mean (%)
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.
40
20
0
1990
1994
1998
Year
At Least Once a Day
Seldom/Never
At Least Once a Week
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)
Year
At Least Once a
Day
More Than
Once a Week
S eldom /
Never
1990
37.9
30.6
31.5
1994
37.1
32.0
30.9
1998
36.2
35.0
28.8
Year
At Least Once a
Day
More Than
Once a Week
Seldom /
Never
1990
36.1
30.0
33.9
1994
35.1
32.0
32.9
1998
33.0
35.6
31.4
40
40
30
30
Mean (%)
Mean (%)
Here are 2 graphs: Males vs. Females
20
10
0
1990
1994
1998
Year
20
10
0
1990
1994
1998
Year
At Least Once a Day
Seldom/Never
At Least Once a Week
At Least Once a Day
Seldom/Never
At Least Once a Week
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)
Year
At Least Once a
Day
More Than
Once a Week
S eldom /
Never
1990
50.1
10.6
39.3
1994
36.4
9.2
54.4
1998
29.9
10.1
60.0
Year
At Least Once a
Day
More Than
Once a Week
S eldom /
Never
1990
26.5
13.1
60.4
1994
16.0
11.3
72.79
1998
12.8
11.9
75.3
Graph: mean vs. time (females: whole wheat/rye
bread)
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.
Mean (%)
 Females seem to be drinking
80
60
40
20
0
1990
1994
1998
Year
At Least Once a Day
At Least Once a Week
Seldom/Never
Mean (%)
Graph: mean vs. time (males: whole wheat/rye bread
 Here, the percent of males who
80
60
40
20
0
1990
1994
1998
Year
At Least Once a Day
At Least Once a Week
Seldom/Never
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).
25.3
67.6
38.2
30.1
Fruits&Vegetables
Junk Food
Bread
Milk
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