The role of fats in the lifecycle stages

Dietary fat plays many vital roles for the young child, but, most importantly, its energy density is a bonus for toddlers (1–2-year-olds) and preschoolers (3–4-year-olds), whose needs are high in relation to weight, while their appetites are often small. It is appropriate that fat provides less energy than it does in infancy, but more than that for school-aged children and adolescents. While fat is an important macronutrient, emphasis needs to be placed on foods which contribute not only fat but are nutrient-dense as well, such as dairy products and eggs. Young children display the well-known human preference for high fat and high sugar content foods.1 However, fostering a taste for a variety of nutrient-dense foods is necessary during this time because of high nutrient needs in the face of an often poor appetite and a reluctance to try new foods.