Correlates of food patterns in young Latino children at high risk of obesity

Abstract

Objective: The present paper examines the influence of age and gender on food patterns of Latino children. Design: Data are from baseline of a 5-year, quasi-experimental obesity prevention study: Niños Sanos, Familia Sana (NSFS; Healthy Children, Healthy Families). In 2012, the researchers interviewed Latino parents, using a thirty-item questionnaire to ask about their children's food consumption and feeding practices. Statistical tests included t tests and ANCOVA. Setting: Rural communities in California's Central Valley, USA. Subjects: Two hundred and seventeen parents (87-89 % born in Mexico) and their children (aged 2-8 years). Results: Fifty-one per cent of the children were overweight or obese (≥85th percentile of BMI for age and gender). Mean BMI Z-scores were not significantly different in boys (1·10 (SD 1·07)) and girls (0·92 (SD 1·04); P = 0·12). In bivariate analysis, children aged 2-4 years consumed fast and convenience foods less often (P = 0·04) and WIC (Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children)-allowable foods more often than children aged 5-8 years (P = 0·01). In ANCOVA, neither age nor gender was significantly related to food patterns. Mother's acculturation level was positively related to children's consumption of fast and convenience foods (P = 0·0002) and negatively related to consumption of WIC foods (P = 0·01). Providing role modelling and structure in scheduling meals and snacks had a positive effect on the vegetable pattern (P = 0·0007), whereas meal skipping was associated with more frequent fast and convenience food consumption (P = 0·04). Conclusions: Acculturation and child feeding practices jointly influence food patterns in Latino immigrant children and indicate a need for interventions that maintain diet quality as children transition to school. Keywords Acculturation Food patterns Children Gender LatinoAccording to the FAO, obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m 2 ) occurs in 32·8 % of Mexican adults, an estimate exceeding that reported for many developed countries including the USA (31·8 %) (1) . When Mexican-Americans are compared with their counterparts in Mexico, a greater prevalence of obesity and overweight is observed in the USA (2)(3)(4) . As reported by a Mexican national study conducted in 2012, the prevalence of overweight and obesity among Mexican 5-11-year-olds averages 34·4 %, with 36·9 % of boys and 32·0 % of girls at or above the 85th percentile of BMI (5) .Comparable US national studies from 2009-2010 report an overweight and obesity prevalence of 39·0 % among Mexican-American children aged 6-11 years, with 38·5 % of boys and 39·5 % of girls at or above the 85th BMI percentile (6) . A gender gap for Mexican-American children is apparent by adolescence (12-19 years), when 46 % of Mexican-American boys have BMI ≥ 85th percentile compared with 40 % of girls. This finding is largely due to more boys (28·9 %) than girls (18·6 %) having BMI ≥ 95th percentile for their age and gender. A smaller gender difference is seen among Mexican adolescents, with 14·5...

Feasibility of skin carotenoids as a biomarker of vegetable intake among Mexican-Origin children in a community setting: A cross-sectional pilot study

“…[20] The FFQ was collected within a month after first dietary recall administered. The FFQ F/V consumption was calculated by creating a sum of 7 items (fresh fruit, canned fruit, vegetable soup, other cooked vegetables, salsa, lettuce or cabbage, and other vegetables) to produce a score (range: 7-35).…”

“…The FFQ instrument used in this study has demonstrated construct validity and internal reliability in this population. [20] In another study, children's F/V consumption, as assessed by this FFQ, was correlated with household inventory of F/V. [21] The RRS skin carotenoid skin carotenoid levels of the children were measured during the first visit using the Pharmanex BioPhotonic Scanner (S2 Everest Edition, Pharmanex, Provo, UT, 2007).…”

The Influence of Parental Feeding Strategy on Child Eating Behavior—The Mediating Role of Pressure to Eat

“…随着物质资源不断丰富，可选择的食物种类越来越多，儿童对于食物的挑剔程度也随之增长。近期 研究调查了北京、广州、苏州等九个地区城市儿童，结果显示：有六成的儿童存在挑食行为 (Volger, Sheng, Tong, Zhao, Fan, Zhang et al, 2013)。挑食具体表现为：不愿意尝试新食物，对于食物有强烈的偏好 (Taylor, Wernimont, Northstone, & Emmett, 2015;Wardle, Guthrie, Sanderson, & Rapoport, 2001)。研究表明，挑食可 能导致微量元素和蛋白质缺乏等营养问题，还会造成体重偏低 (Volger et al, 2013;Xue, Zhao, Cai, Yang, Szeto, Ma et al, 2014;Yong, Lee, Ke, Zheng, Ma, Gao et al, 2015)。 父母可以通过自身的行为示范，或者通过控制孩子的饮食环境，来影响下一代的饮食行为和习惯， 从而改善其体重和其他营养状况 (Savage, Fisher, & Birch, 2007;Vollmer & Mobley, 2013)。有研究发现，父 母自身规律的进食蔬果行为，及其提供蔬果的丰富程度，都会促进儿童进食蔬菜水果 (Kaiser, Aguilera, Horowitz, Lamp, Johns, Gomez-Camacho et al, 2015;Wyse, Wolfenden, & Bisquera, 2015)；反之，孩子则会 较少进食蔬菜水果，较多进食零食 (Jackson, Smit, Manore, John, & Gunter, 2015;Schrempft, Jaarsveld, Fisher, & Wardle, 2015 Table 3. The mediation effect of parental feeding pressure between parental feeding strategy and child's behavior (N = 424) …”

It is Hard to Swim Upstream: Dietary Acculturation Among Mexican-Origin Children

“…Supporting our supposition is evidence of the protective effect that living in an immigrant neighborhood has on the diets of Mexican-origin persons in the U.S. (Dubowitz et al 2008b; Kimbro and Denney 2013; Osypuk et al 2009; Park et al 2008; Reyes-Ortiz et al 2009; Wen and Maloney 2011) and the deleterious effect of generational status for Hispanic children’s diet quality (Van Hook et al 2015). However, some studies find that parents’ acculturation is unevenly related to eating specific kinds of healthy and unhealthy foods (e.g., it reduces fruit consumption, increases fast food consumption, but has no association with vegetable consumption) (Kaiser et al 2015; Erinosho et al 2012), while yet other research finds that children of more acculturated parents actually consume more fruits and vegetables than children of less acculturated parents (Chaparro et al 2015). …”