Children with Early Sexual Maturation Exhibit Changes in Dairy and Soybean Consumption: A 6-Year Nationwide Study

Abstract

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>BackgroundEarly sexual maturation (ESM) is associated with behavioral disorders in adolescence and hormone-related cancers in adulthood. Dietary pattern (DP) has been noticed in association with ESM. However, to our knowledge, no study has shown that association between DP derived from reduced-rank regression (RRR) and ESM, and whether ESM influences tracking dietary habit in children. This study was therefore to examine the prospective association between childhood dietary pattern (DP) and ESM, and whether ESM influenced children’s dietary habit during 6 years of pubertal growth.MethodsThis longitudinal study, using the Taiwan Children Health Study cohort, included 2593 peripubertal children aged 11.1 ± 0.3 years in 2011. DPs were derived by factor analysis (FA) and reduced-rank regression (RRR) methods from food frequency questionnaires. ESM was assessed in 2012 at age 12.1 ± 0.3 years. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine the association between DP scores and ESM (n = 2593). The change in DP scores between 2011 and 2017 was obtained by comparing baseline DP scores with those participants who completed the final assessment (n = 1018).ResultsAt baseline, 3 DPs (dairy–soybean, traditional, and vegetarian diet) were identified using FA. Children with FA-derived dairy–soybean diet had a significantly higher risk of ESM (females: odds ratio [OR] = 1.58, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.07, 2.32; <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> = 0.02; males: OR = 1.42, 95% CI: 1.08, 1.86; <jats:italic>P</jats:italic> = 0.01) after adjusting for parent education, family income, fat percentage, total energy intake, and screen time. RRR-derived DPs yielded similar associations. Children who experienced ESM exhibited a significantly higher decrease in DP scores of “dairy–soybean diet” than did children without ESM over a 6-year period. Children with ESM were prone to resume “traditional diet” after completing pubertal growth.ConclusionsAdherence to “dairy–soybean diet” in childhood were associated with ESM; therefore, children undergoing pubertal growth should be advised on appropriate levels of dairy and soybean consumption, even after completion of pubertal growth.Data Share StatementData described in the manuscript, code book, and analytic code will be made available upon request pending either before or after publication for checking through contact with the authors by emails.</jats:p>