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The relationship between meal frequency and BMI in school‐children
Author(s) -
Goldsbury Savannah J,
Leidy Heather J,
Gibson Cheryl A,
Sullivan Debra K
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.912.15
Subject(s) - meal , medicine , obesity , percentile , demography , zoology , mathematics , biology , statistics , sociology
Purpose To identify the relationship between meal frequency and BMI in children. Methods: This was a cross‐sectional, observational study involving 1070 children in grades 3‐5 (age 7‐12 y) from 12 elementary schools within the Kansas City, KS Public School District. Each child completed one testing day of height and weight measures to determine BMI for age and sex percentiles (BMI%); total energy intake and number of eating occasions per day (EO) were identified using a multiple pass 24‐h diet recall administered by trained nutritionists. Correlational analyses were performed to determine relationships between BMI%, EO, and total energy intake. BMI% was also examined according to EO categorized as <3, 3‐4, >5 EO. Results BMI% was 74 ± 27% (range: 0‐100); EO was 4 ± 1 (range: 1‐8); and total energy intake was 1677 ± 786 kcal/d (range: 104‐7273). Lower BMI% was associated with higher total energy intake (r: ‐0.116; p<0.001) and greater EO (r: ‐0.091 p<0.005). Main effects of categorized EO were observed for BMI% (p<0.05). Children consuming <3 EO had higher BMI% (80± 24%) vs. those consuming 3‐4 EO (73± 27%; p<0.05) and >5 EO (72 ± 28%; p<0.01). Conclusion Increased energy intake in combination with increased meal frequency positively impacts BMI% in school‐aged children. This data suggests that increasing the number of eating occasions may be a beneficial strategy to combat obesity. Support: NIH: R01 HL080967 ‐01A2 Grant Funding Source NIH R01 HL080967 ‐01A2