{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]],"date-time":"2026-05-25T05:04:06Z","timestamp":1779685446495,"version":"3.53.1"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]],"date-time":"2026-05-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1779667200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Maternal and Child Health Scientific Research Project of Wuxi Municipal Health Commission","award":["FYTG202405"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FYTG202405"]}]},{"name":"Nutrition and Health Research Funding Project of Jiangsu Nutrition Society","award":["JYXE202304"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JYXE202304"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Nutr."],"abstract":"\n Objective<\/jats:title>\n To investigate the dietary diversity status of preschool children aged 3\u20137\u202fyears in Wuxi City, analyze the factors influencing dietary diversity, and provide a scientific basis for developing effective intervention methods to improve dietary diversity.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n A stratified cluster random sampling method was used to select 3,727 preschool children from 18 kindergartens across Wuxi. A questionnaire was used to collect demographic data of the children and their parents, dietary habits, and family conditions.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n The average dietary diversity score (DDS) was 5.07\u202f\u00b1\u202f1.94, with 36.79% of children having low dietary diversity (DDS\u202f\u2264\u202f4). Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the following factors were associated with normal dietary diversity: family per capita monthly income of 1,000\u20132,000 RMB, children engaging in outdoor activities for less than 2\u202fh daily or more than 2\u202fh daily, an average daily sleep duration of 9\u201313\u202fh, occasional good appetite, sometimes good appetite, often good appetite, always good appetite, and having a fixed dining seat. Conversely, factors associated with low dietary diversity included maternal BMI of 24\u201327.9 (OR\u202f=\u202f0.725, 95%\n CI<\/jats:italic>\n : 0.539\u202f~\u202f0.975,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n =\u202f0.034), maternal BMI\u202f&gt;\u202f28 (OR\u202f=\u202f0.649, 95%\n CI:<\/jats:italic>\n 0.483\u202f~\u202f0.872,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n =\u202f0.004), and daily screen time of &gt;1\u202fh (OR\u202f=\u202f0.700, 95%\n CI:<\/jats:italic>\n 0.523\u202f~\u202f0.935,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n =\u202f0.016), 1\u20132\u202fh (OR\u202f=\u202f0.622, 95%\n CI:<\/jats:italic>\n 0.459\u202f~\u202f0.843,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n =\u202f0.002), or &gt;2\u202fh (OR\u202f=\u202f0.620, 95%\n CI:<\/jats:italic>\n 0.428\u202f~\u202f0.900,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n =\u202f0.012).\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n Over one-third of preschool children in Wuxi have low dietary diversity, which requires greater attention. Screen time was significantly associated with low dietary diversity, Maternal overweight\/obesity was significantly associated with lower dietary diversity among children. Particular focus should be placed on children with prolonged screen time and maternal overweight\/obesity to prevent diseases related to low dietary diversity. Targeted intervention strategies for Wuxi\u2019s preschool children were proposed from the perspectives of family, kindergarten and government, and stratified interventions were suggested for migrant children and children with maternal obesity.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fnut.2026.1797862","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]],"date-time":"2026-05-25T04:46:21Z","timestamp":1779684381000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Dietary diversity status and influencing factors among children aged 3\u20137 in China"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Bingbing","family":"Guo","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Wuxi Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Affiliated Women\u2019s Hospital of Jiangnan University","place":["Wuxi, Jiangsu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lan","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Wuxi Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Affiliated Women\u2019s Hospital of Jiangnan University","place":["Wuxi, Jiangsu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Xinye","family":"Jiang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Wuxi Maternity and Child Health Hospital, Affiliated Women\u2019s Hospital of Jiangnan University","place":["Wuxi, Jiangsu, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1659","DOI":"10.1093\/advances\/nmab009","article-title":"Dietary diversity indicators and their associations with dietary adequacy and health outcomes: a systematic scoping review","volume":"12","author":"Verger","year":"2021","journal-title":"Adv Nutr"},{"key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2579","DOI":"10.1093\/jn\/134.10.2579","article-title":"Dietary diversity is associated with child nutritional status: evidence from 11 demographic and health surveys","volume":"134","author":"Arimond","year":"2004","journal-title":"J Nutr"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"24","DOI":"10.1159\/000365125","article-title":"Dietary intake of schoolchildren and adolescents in developing countries","volume":"64","author":"Ochola","year":"2014","journal-title":"Ann Nutr Metab"},{"key":"ref4","volume-title":"Adolescent Nutrition: a Review of the Situation in Selected South-East Asian Countries","year":"2006"},{"key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"469","DOI":"10.1186\/1756-0500-5-469","article-title":"Use of dietary diversity score as a proxy indicator of nutrient adequacy of rural elderly people in Sri Lanka","volume":"5","author":"Rathnayake","year":"2012","journal-title":"BMC Res Notes"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"111468","DOI":"10.1016\/j.nut.2021.111468","article-title":"Evaluating a novel dietary diversity questionnaire to assess dietary diversity and adequacy of New Zealand women","author":"Kruger","year":"2021","journal-title":"Nutrition"},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2120","DOI":"10.3390\/nu15092120","article-title":"Dietary diversity and inflammatory diet associated with all-cause mortality and incidence and mortality of type 2 diabetes: two prospective cohort studies","volume":"15","author":"Zheng","year":"2023","journal-title":"Nutrients"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e00298","DOI":"10.1016\/j.heliyon.2017.e00298","article-title":"Dietary diversity and child malnutrition in Ghana","volume":"3","author":"Frempong","year":"2017","journal-title":"Heliyon"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"712","DOI":"10.3390\/nu12030712","article-title":"Social stratification, diet diversity and malnutrition among preschoolers: a survey of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia","volume":"12","author":"Berhane","year":"2020","journal-title":"Nutrients"},{"key":"ref10","volume-title":"Stunting Prevalence among children under 5 Years of age (%). 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