Objective To assess vitamin and mineral intakes of Anglo-American and Mexican-American preschoolers.

Design By use of interview and observation methods, acquire food intake data, calculate total nutrient intake, and compare selected nutrients to the Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for ethnic and gender groups.

Subjects Low- to middle-income parents and their preschool children (N=351) recruited from preschools in San Diego, Calif, consented to participate in the Study of Children's Activity and Nutrition conducted by researchers at the University of California, San Diego.

Main outcome measures Data regarding 15 nutrients were summarized based on the average of two food intake records for each preschooler.

Statistical analyses performed Means and standard deviations were used to describe micronutrient intakes for ethnic and gender groups; analyses of variance and t tests were performed to determine ethnic and gender differences.

Results Boys and Anglo-Americans had higher total nutrient intakes than girls and Mexican-Americans, respectively. Mexican-Americans had higher nutrient intakes per energy intake, which indicates a micronutrient-dense diet. When each nutrient was considered by the two thirds of the RDA criterion (66% of the RDA means adequate intake), the nutrients most likely to be inadequate were iron, zinc, vitamin D, vitamin C, and niacin. Mexican-American girls had significantly lower calcium intakes than the other gender and ethnic groups.

Application Parents and day care providers must ensure that preschoolers, especially girls and Mexican-Americans, eat nutrient-rich foods in adequate quantities that will achieve the recommended intakes. J Am Diet Assoc. 1995; 95:329-335.