「臺灣地區國小學童營養健康狀況調查2001-2002」: 甜食和乳製品攝取與齲齒狀況關係之研究

The purpose of this study was to investigate the current oral health condition of schoolchildren in Taiwan, and its relationship with the consumption of sweet snacks and dairy products. This study is a subproject of the ”Elementary Schoolchildren's Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan 2001-2002.” A representative sample of schoolchildren in Taiwan was selected by a stratified multistage cluster sampling design. Information on the dietary habits and oral health condition was collected from each participant. The dairy products discussed in this study included the number of servings per day of milk, yogurt, and cheese; the weekly frequencies of sweet snacks included cookies, candy/chocolate, popsicles, and sugared drinks. Statistical analyses were conducted by SAS and SUDAAN. There were 2405 subjects who completed both the oral examination and questionnaire. The overall caries prevalence was 87.0%. The caries prevalence rates of permanent teeth were 64.9% for boys and 82.5% for girls; the DMFT indices were 2.2 and 3.6, respectively. After adjusting for potential confounding factors, the DMFT index was statistically significantly associated with milk, cheese, and popsicles. The increase in deft was significantly associated with increasing frequencies of weekly cookie consumption.