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Assessment of home food environment among healthy weight and overweight/obese school‐age children
Author(s) -
Nepper Martha J,
Chai Weiwen
Publication year - 2016
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.30.1_supplement.129.1
Subject(s) - overweight , medicine , obesity , meal , logistic regression , demographics , demography , environmental health , gerontology , sociology
Objective To compare the differences in the availability and visibility of home healthy and unhealthy foods and family meal frequency and quality between healthy weight and overweight/obese children. Methods Forty‐two overweight/obese and 40 healthy weight children (9.8±2.6 years) and their parents participated in the study. In‐home assessment for food availability and visibility was conducted and children's weight and height were measured by researchers. Self‐report survey regarding demographics and family meals were completed by the parents. Logistic regression analysis was used to examine associations of demographic characteristics, home food availability and visibility and family meal variables with children's weight status. Results The availability of home total unhealthy foods was significantly and inversely associated with overweight/obesity among children. The association was not significant after adjusting for single‐parent household and parent working status. Lower visibility of home total unhealthy foods (OR=0.60, 95% CI=0.39–0.92, P=0.02) and lower frequency of family meals (OR=0.10, 95% CI=0.01–0.96, P=0.02) were significantly associated with children being overweight/obese after adjustment for covariates. Parents who worked full‐time (OR=4.14, 95% CI=1.62–10.54, P=0.008), single parent household (OR=5.25, 95% CI=1.72–16.07, P=0.002), and older parents (OR=1.11, 95% CI=1.03–1.20, P=0.004) were positively associated with overweight/obesity of children. Conclusion Helping and educating parents to create a healthier home food environment is important for both overweight/obese and healthy weight children. Support or Funding Information This research was supported by the University of Nebraska‐Lincoln Research Council Faculty Seed grant and in part by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Grant 2011‐67002‐30202 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Childhood Obesity Prevention: Transdisciplinary Graduate Education and Training in Nutrition and Family Sciences or Child Development or Related Fields to Prevent Childhood Obesity.