The role of eating frequency on relative weight in urban school-age children.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: The role of eating frequency on relative weight in childhood is not well understood.To clarify this relationship by assessing the cross-sectional and prospective relationships of weekday eating frequency with BMI?z-score (BMIz) and change in BMIz in a sample of schoolchildren.Eating frequency, the average number of reported daily eating occasions, was assessed using two weekday 24-h diet recalls. BMIz was measured at baseline, 6 months and 1 year in 155 urban schoolchildren, ages 9-15 years. Multiple linear regression models were used.Cross-sectional analyses at baseline suggest that BMIz was 0.23 units lower for each additional reported eating occasion (regression coefficient?=?-0.23; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.44, -0.07). From baseline to 6 months, BMIz increased by 0.03 units for each additional reported eating occasion (regression coefficient?=?0.03; 95% CI: 0.01, 0.05). This relationship was no longer statistically significant at 1 year (regression coefficient?=?0.01; 95% CI: -0.01, 0.03).The findings suggest that the relationship of eating frequency with BMIz differs from that of change in BMIz. This difference may be due to methodological deficiencies of cross-sectional studies, challenges of dietary assessment or differences in eating patterns among normal and overweight youth. Controlled trials are needed to further clarify this relationship.
SUBMITTER: Evans EW
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4495000 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
ACCESS DATA