Also, a decrease in the consumption not of sugared drinks and fruit juices would significantly decrease simple carbohydrate intakes. Replacement of flavoured milk drinks by natural milk should for instance be encouraged. The current consumptions of sweet spreads (like jam and chocolate spread) are only a case of concern with regard to the intake of simple sugars, though their contribution to simple sugars is still lower than that from flavoured milk drinks, fruit juices, soft drinks, and sweet snacks. Furthermore, it could be concluded from tables tables22 and and33 that a lower consumption of fat-rich cold cuts could help to decrease SFA intakes, given its high contribution and its high consumption in comparison with other products from the ‘meat group’.

At last, a lower consumption of hard cheese or replacement by low-fat types or cottage cheese could also reduce SFA intakes. Methodological considerations Some limitations should be considered when interpreting or using these results. First of all, it should be underlined that the information collected from these Flemish preschoolers relies upon parents and/or other proxies’ capabilities of recall. However, several steps were undertaken in this study to increase the validity of the information (e.g. school staff was involved in the reporting of snacks and lunches consumed during school-time, and great efforts were done to motivate the parents). Nevertheless, it should be noted that the underrepresentation of lower educated parents could result in participation bias warranting caution in generalisation of the current findings.

Second, decisions about food grouping were based on the food groups in our Flemish FBDG and on the judgement of the investigators, which might have implications for the findings. For example, rolls and croissants were classified under bread products according to the main food group classification, however, within the bread food group it is considered as a food item from the residual group. Also, decisions regarding the disaggregating of mixed foods might have consequences for the present results. For example, disaggregating pizza would have given a more realistic estimate of how cheese contributes to nutrient intakes but does not allow for knowing how pizza itself contributes. Since all days of the week were included in the study, the effect of day of the week could be removed. Unfortunately, it was impossible to correct for seasonal variations, because data was collected during autumn and wintertime. However, in the Belgian National Brefeldin_A Food Consumption Survey performed in 2004, it was concluded that seasonal variation was limited for nutrient intakes [15].