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The role of eating frequency on relative weight in urban school‐age children
Author(s) -
Evans E. W.,
Jacques P. F.,
Dallal G. E.,
Sacheck J.,
Must A.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
pediatric obesity
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.226
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 2047-6310
pISSN - 2047-6302
DOI - 10.1111/ijpo.12004
Subject(s) - medicine , overweight , confidence interval , linear regression , cross sectional study , body mass index , demography , regression analysis , food frequency questionnaire , obesity , environmental health , statistics , mathematics , pathology , sociology
Summary Background The role of eating frequency on relative weight in childhood is not well understood. Objective To clarify this relationship by assessing the cross‐sectional and prospective relationships of weekday eating frequency with BMI z ‐score ( BMIz ) and change in BMIz in a sample of schoolchildren. Methods Eating frequency, the average number of reported daily eating occasions, was assessed using two weekday 24‐h diet recalls. BMIz was measured at baseline, 6 months and 1 year in 155 urban schoolchildren, ages 9–15 years. Multiple linear regression models were used. Results Cross‐sectional analyses at baseline suggest that BMIz was 0.23 units lower for each additional reported eating occasion (regression coefficient = −0.23; 95% confidence interval [ CI ]: −0.44, −0.07). From baseline to 6 months, BMIz increased by 0.03 units for each additional reported eating occasion (regression coefficient = 0.03; 95% CI : 0.01, 0.05). This relationship was no longer statistically significant at 1 year (regression coefficient = 0.01; 95% CI : −0.01, 0.03). Conclusions The findings suggest that the relationship of eating frequency with BMIz differs from that of change in BMIz . This difference may be due to methodological deficiencies of cross‐sectional studies, challenges of dietary assessment or differences in eating patterns among normal and overweight youth. Controlled trials are needed to further clarify this relationship.