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Food, activity and family—environmental vs biochemical predictors of weight gain in children

Objective : To identify whether measures of energy intake and expenditure predict excessive weight gain over time in children and to describe how these measures relate to similar measures in parents. Design : Prospective, descriptive study over 12 months with no intervention. Setting : University te...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European journal of clinical nutrition 2003-10, Vol.57 (10), p.1242-1249
Main Authors: Bogaert, N, Steinbeck, K S, Baur, L A, Brock, K, Bermingham, M A
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Objective : To identify whether measures of energy intake and expenditure predict excessive weight gain over time in children and to describe how these measures relate to similar measures in parents. Design : Prospective, descriptive study over 12 months with no intervention. Setting : University teaching hospital. Subjects : Children aged between 6.0 and 9.0 y. Recruitment was through advertisement. A total of 59 children (30 F), 41 mothers and 29 fathers. In all, 41 (69%) of the children were reviewed at 12 months (20 F). Results : No significant correlations were identified between body mass index (BMI) z -score change in children over 12 months for any dietary variable or for any measures of energy expenditure, including hours of television viewing or percent time spent in low-, moderate- or high-intensity activity. The BMI z -score change over 12 months was significantly correlated with LDL cholesterol and Apo B/ApoA-1 ratio, independent of percent body fat ( r= 0.45, P =0.01; r= 0.37, P =0.03). A significant positive correlation was found for mothers and girls for percent time in moderate to high activity ( r= 0.44, P =0.03) and between fathers and children for percent time spent in low activity ( r= 0.43, P =0.005). Conclusions : The study has been unable to identify environmental predictors that indicate propensity to faster weight gain over time in this cohort of children, but has extended the evidence on lifestyle-influenced biochemical predictors that do. An overall lack of vigorous activity in this age group, and correlations between parental and child activity and inactivity have been identified. Sponsorship : The Australian Rotary Health Foundation, The Financial Markets Foundation for Children, The National Health and Medical Research Council.
ISSN:0954-3007
1476-5640
DOI:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601677