Correlates of food patterns in young Latino children at high risk of obesity

Public Health Nutrition

Alberto L Aguilera¹  Catherine Lamp¹  Margaret Johns¹  Rosa Gomez-Camacho¹  Lenna Ontai¹  Adela de la Torre¹  Marcel Horowitz¹  Lucia L Kaiser¹ 

关键词: Acculturation;    Food patterns;    Children;    Gender;    Latino;   

DOI  :  10.1017/S1368980014003309

学科分类：卫生学

来源: Cambridge University Press

【 摘 要 】

AbstractObjectiveThe present paper examines the influence of age and gender on food patterns of Latino children.DesignData are from baseline of a 5-year, quasi-experimental obesity prevention study: Niños Sanos, Familia Sana (NSFS; Healthy Children, Healthy Families). In 2012, the researchers interviewed Latino parents, using a thirty-item questionnaire to ask about their children’s food consumption and feeding practices. Statistical tests included t tests and ANCOVA.SettingRural communities in California’s Central Valley, USA.SubjectsTwo hundred and seventeen parents (87–89 % born in Mexico) and their children (aged 2–8 years).ResultsFifty-one per cent of the children were overweight or obese (≥85th percentile of BMI for age and gender). Mean BMI Z-scores were not significantly different in boys (1·10 (sd 1·07)) and girls (0·92 (sd 1·04); P=0·12). In bivariate analysis, children aged 2–4 years consumed fast and convenience foods less often (P=0·04) and WIC (Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children)-allowable foods more often than children aged 5–8 years (P=0·01). In ANCOVA, neither age nor gender was significantly related to food patterns. Mother’s acculturation level was positively related to children’s consumption of fast and convenience foods (P=0·0002) and negatively related to consumption of WIC foods (P=0·01). Providing role modelling and structure in scheduling meals and snacks had a positive effect on the vegetable pattern (P=0·0007), whereas meal skipping was associated with more frequent fast and convenience food consumption (P=0·04).ConclusionsAcculturation and child feeding practices jointly influence food patterns in Latino immigrant children and indicate a need for interventions that maintain diet quality as children transition to school.

【 授权许可】

Unknown