OBJECTIVETo examine the trends of energy intake among Chinese children and adolescents in nine provinces from 1989 to 2009.

METHODStratified multi-stage cluster sampling method was used to recruit 488, 2807, 2802, 2580, 2520, 1604, 1305 and 1159 children and adolescents aged 6 - 17 years in each year of 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2009 in 9 provinces. The descriptive analyses were carried out for three days 24-h dietary recall data to compare energy intake by year and demographic characteristics.

RESULTSThe median of dietary energy intake among Chinese children and adolescents aged 6 - 17 years in 1989, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2004, 2006 and 2009 were 6645.7, 8314.8, 7849.3, 8115.0, 7970.5, 7598.0, 7345.0 and 7051.9 kJ/d (χ(2) = 239.75, P < 0.01), respectively. In 2009, children and adolescents from city (7820.4 kJ/d) and county (7356.0 kJ/d) consumed more energy than that from suburb (7168.2 kJ/d) and village (6863.5 kJ/d) (χ(2) = 8.00, P < 0.05). Cereal was the main food source of energy intake. In 2009, the percentage of energy intake from cereal was 44.0%, 45.6%, 52.9% and 61.0% (χ(2) = 36.75, P < 0.01)for city, suburb, county and village respectively. The percentage of population with > 30% of energy intake from dietary fat increased yearly and that with more than 60% of energy from carbohydrate decreased, from 25.4% (124/488) and 54.1% (264/488) in 1989 to 58.1% (637/1159) and 15.9% (184/1159) (χ(2) values were 811.24, 919.35 respectively;both P values < 0.05) in 2009. The percentage of children and adolescents whose energy intake was more than 80% recommended nutrient intake (RNI) declined from 60.2% (294/488) in 1989 to 47.8% (554/1159) in 2009(χ(2) = 227.66, P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe current study demonstrated that energy intake of Chinese children and adolescents increased at early stage and then declined in the recent years. Average energy intake was higher in city and county than suburb and village.