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Fast Food, Fat and Sugar Sweetened Beverage Items are Related to Children's Dietary Energy Density
Author(s) -
Shilts Mical,
Styne Dennis,
Drake Christiana,
Aden Christopher,
Townsend Marilyn
Publication year - 2015
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.29.1_supplement.731.6
Subject(s) - snacking , environmental health , obesity , cronbach's alpha , medicine , added sugar , food group , energy density , food science , engineering , biology , psychometrics , clinical psychology , engineering physics
To reduce risk of pediatric obesity, valid assessment tools are needed. This study tested the validity of a brief fast food, fat and sugar sweetened beverage screening tool for use by low‐income parents of preschool age children. Parents (n=144) from Head Start and WIC participated in the study. Cross‐sectional data collection included the parent self‐administered 12‐item Healthy Kids (HK) Fast Food and Fat tool and three 24‐hour recalls used to calculate dietary energy density. The tool, with a Cronbach alpha of 0.81, included assessment of eating fast food, sugar sweetened beverage consumption, and snacking on cookies, chips and candy. Linear regression analysis revealed a significant relationship (R 2 = 0.29, p<0.003) between the HK tool and child dietary energy density. In this sample, the Healthy Kids Fast Food and Fat tool was an adequate measure of the child's dietary energy density which is ultimately related to obesity. The tool could be used for program evaluation in Federal Food Assistance and Education programs and as a screener for risky behaviors to target in counseling appointments. This project was supported by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Grant no. 2010‐85215‐20658 from the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture, obesity – 93330.