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Dietary Calcium and Dairy Product Consumption Inversely Correlate with BMI Percentile in Children Enrolled in an After‐School Nutrition Education Behavior Change Program
Author(s) -
Gunther Carolyn Woods,
Branscum Paul,
Kaye Gail
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.23.1_supplement.552.7
Subject(s) - overweight , medicine , percentile , obesity , calcium , body mass index , environmental health , gerontology , endocrinology , mathematics , statistics
The prevalence of childhood overweight and obesity in the United States has increased in past decades and continues to rise steadily. Healthy weight is achieved by reaching a balance between energy intake and energy expenditure. Thus, understanding the role of dietary factors in the etiology of this complex disease is critical and has attracted much interest. Recent studies suggest that high calcium and/or dairy intake may reduce body fat accumulation or enhance fat mass loss during energy restriction. In this cross‐sectional analysis, the relationships of amounts of dietary calcium and dairy product consumed (measured by 24 hr recall) with body weight, BMI, and BMI percentile (derived from CDC sex‐specific BMI‐for‐age growth chart) were assessed in 102 healthy children (8‐13 yrs) enrolled in an after‐school nutrition behavior change program. Subject characteristics included (mean + SD): dietary calcium (1037.7 + 429.6 mg/day), dairy product consumption (2.8 + 1.4 cup equivalents/day), weight (39.8 + 13.3 kg), BMI (20.4 + 5.2 kg/m 2 ), and BMI percentile (70.9 + 29.4). Dietary calcium and dairy product consumption inversely correlated with BMI percentile (R=‐0.28, p=0.004; R=‐0.27, p=0.005, respectively). These data support the potential role of dietary calcium and/or dairy products in weight control in children.