European children’s sugar intake on weekdays versus weekends: the IDEFICS study

Svensson, Åsa; Larsson, Christel; Eiben, Gabriele; Lanfer, A; Pala, Valeria; Hebestreit, Antje; Huybrechts, Inge; Fernández-Alvira, Juan Miguel; Russo, Paola; Koni, Anna C.; Henauw, Stefaan De; Veidebaum, Toomas; Molnár, Denés; Lissner, Lauren

doi:10.1038/ejcn.2014.87

Cited by 55 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…Even though IDEFICS children tend to consume, for example, more sugar, sugar-rich foods and beverages during weekends compared with workdays, energy intake did not differ significantly between workdays and weekend days. 54 Still, slightly higher ED levels during weekends cannot be precluded, which may have led to a small underestimation of the present ED values.…”

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confidence: 72%

Dietary energy density in young children across Europe

et al. 2014

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,10 on behalf of the IDEFICS consortium OBJECTIVES: To describe energy density (ED; kcal g − 1 ) of dietary intake of European children. METHODS: From 16 228 children who participated in the IDEFICS (Identification and prevention of Dietary-and lifestyle-induced health EFfects In Children and infantS) baseline examination, 8551 children with 24-h dietary recalls (24-HDR), with plausible reported energy intakes and complete covariate information were included in the present analysis. ED was calculated using two methods: (1) ED including solid foods (ED F ) and (2) ED including solid foods and energy-containing beverages (ED F&B ). Beverage energy was calculated in kcal per day. Dietary characteristics and body mass index (BMI) z-score of children aged 2 to o 6 years and 6 to o 10 years were compared between children with an overall ED F below the o 25th percentile, between the 25th and 75th percentile as well as above the 475th percentile. Standardised regression coefficients were estimated to assess the association between dietary characteristics, BMI z-score and ED of the diet. RESULTS: Children with low ED F and ED F&B diets consumed less energy but higher quantity of food and beverages than children with high ED F and ED F&B diets. Consumption of caloric beverages decreased with increasing ED F&B of the diet owing to the relatively low ED of the beverages, in relation to solid foods. Generally, children with low ED F and ED F&B diets showed healthier food choices than peers with higher ED F and ED F&B diets. In this sample, ED F and ED F&B were not associated with BMI z-score. CONCLUSION: Health promotion strategies should proclaim lower ED diets by means of foods with high water and low fat content and mainly fruit and vegetable components. Excluding caloric beverages from ED F calculation is a useful method to avoid misinterpretation of true exposure to a high energy dense diet. We recommend excluding caloric beverages from ED F calculation when investigating the effect of ED on a certain (health) outcome.International Journal of Obesity (2014) 38, S124-S134; doi:10.1038/ijo.2014.143 BACKGROUND High energy density of the diet was found to be associated with obesity in humans.1 In adults, there is strong evidence that diets high in energy density (ED, kcal g − 1 ) are associated with increased body weight, whereas diets low in ED encourage weight maintenance or even weight loss.2 The body of evidence for an association between high dietary ED and obesity is less strong in children and adolescents.3,4 High ED was found to be associated with greater intakes of energy, fat and added sugars, and with significantly lower intakes of fruits and vegetables.

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confidence: 72%

Dietary energy density in young children across Europe

et al. 2014

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“…Both categories of school meal participants (i.e., breakfast only and breakfast/lunch) had higher mean weekday HEI scores for milk and vegetables, and lower HEI scores for saturated fat and sodium compared to their HEI scores for weekend days [179]. Four out of seven international studies reported statistically significant findings with children displaying unhealthy dietary behaviors, such as increased sugar intake, during weekend days compared to weekdays [68, 113, 182, 183]. Three other international studies either found no difference [128, 184] or presented evidence showing favorable dietary behaviors during weekends compared to weekdays [185].…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Understanding differences between summer vs. school obesogenic behaviors of children: the structured days hypothesis

Brazendale

Beets

Weaver

et al. 2017

Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

563

463

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BackgroundAlthough the scientific community has acknowledged modest improvements can be made to weight status and obesogenic behaviors (i.e., physical activity, sedentary/screen time, diet, and sleep) during the school year, studies suggests improvements are erased as elementary-age children are released to summer vacation. Emerging evidence shows children return to school after summer vacation displaying accelerated weight gain compared to the weight gained occurring during the school year. Understanding how summer days differ from when children are in school is, therefore, essential.DiscussionThere is limited evidence on the etiology of accelerated weight gain during summer, with few studies comparing obesogenic behaviors on the same children during school and summer. For many children, summer days may be analogous to weekend days throughout the school year. Weekend days are often limited in consistent and formal structure, and thus differ from school days where segmented, pre-planned, restrictive, and compulsory components exist that shape obesogenic behaviors. The authors hypothesize that obesogenic behaviors are beneficially regulated when children are exposed to a structured day (i.e., school weekday) compared to what commonly occurs during summer. This is referred to as the ‘Structured Days Hypothesis’ (SDH). To illustrate how the SDH operates, this study examines empirical data that compares weekend day (less-structured) versus weekday (structured) obesogenic behaviors in U.S. elementary school-aged children. From 190 studies, 155 (~80%) demonstrate elementary-aged children’s obesogenic behaviors are more unfavorable during weekend days compared to weekdays.ConclusionIn light of the SDH, consistent evidence demonstrates the structured environment of weekdays may help to protect children by regulating obesogenic behaviors, most likely through compulsory physical activity opportunities, restricting caloric intake, reducing screen time occasions, and regulating sleep schedules. Summer is emerging as the critical period where childhood obesity prevention efforts need to be focused. The SDH can help researchers understand the drivers of obesogenic behaviors during summer and lead to innovative intervention development.

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“…Previous studies investigating weekly variation in dietary intake and PA have generally found less healthy behaviour during the weekend. Larger intakes of total energy, fat, added sugar, different discretionary foods and alcohol have consistently been observed during the weekend in studies on Western populations (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)43,(47)(48)(49)(50)(51)(52)(53)(54) . However, the increase in total energy intake during weekend days, compared with weekdays, observed in the present study was larger than demonstrated in other large-scale, national studies (13,(15)(16)(17) .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Weekly variation in diet and physical activity among 4–75-year-old Danes

Nordman

Matthiessen

Biltoft-Jensen

et al. 2020

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: To compare dietary intake and physical activity (PA) between days of the week in a large sample of the Danish population; furthermore, to investigate the influence of gender and age as determinants for weekly variation. Design: Analysis was based on cross-sectional data from the Danish National Survey of Diet and Physical Activity 2011-2013. Dietary intake and PA were assessed by 7 d of pre-coded food diaries and pedometer-determined step counts. Dietary intake and PA on weekdays (Monday-Thursday), Friday, and weekend days (Saturday and Sunday) were compared using linear mixed models. Setting: Survey with national representation, conducted in Denmark between 2011 and 2013. Participants: A random sample of 4-75-year-old Danes, n 3934 and n 3530 in analysis of dietary intake and PA, respectively. Results: Energy intake during Friday and weekend days was 7-20 % higher compared with weekdays, while step counts were 10 and 17 % lower on Saturday and Sunday, respectively (all P < 0·001). Energy density of liquids and solids, consumption of added sugar, alcohol, discretionary foods, beer, wine and sugar-sweetened beverages were substantially higher, and consumption of dietary fibre, vegetables, fruit and wholegrain products were lower, during Friday and weekend days compared with weekdays (all P < 0·001). The observed patterns were present across gender and age, although weekly variation was most pronounced among children and relatively modest among the elderly. Conclusions: Weekend health behaviours of Danes display less favourable eating and PA behaviour compared with weekdays, making the weekend an important target for public health interventions aiming to improve dietary intake and PA behaviour.

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European children’s sugar intake on weekdays versus weekends: the IDEFICS study

Cited by 55 publications

References 22 publications

Dietary energy density in young children across Europe

Dietary energy density in young children across Europe

Understanding differences between summer vs. school obesogenic behaviors of children: the structured days hypothesis

Weekly variation in diet and physical activity among 4–75-year-old Danes

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