Many eating patterns linked to obesity in Louisiana kids
By Becky Ham, Staff Writer
Health Behavior News Service
Instead, a number of interrelated eating patterns may combine to have a cumulative effect on being overweight, say Theresa A. Nicklas, Dr.P.H., of the Baylor College of Medicine and colleagues in the June issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
There was a fivefold increase in the percentage of overweight children in Bogalusa, La., from 1973 to 1994. Twenty-four percent of the children were overweight, which is comparable to the national average, according to the researchers. The percentage of children at risk for excess weight also increased twofold during the same time.
Using data collected on 1,562 children during the two decades, Nicklas and colleagues found that eating sweets, meats and “low-quality foods” like salty snacks, candy and fats and oils were all associated with being overweight.
“The positive association between sweets and overweight status resulted from consumption of sweetened beverages and not desserts or candy,” says Nicklas, who notes that 50 percent of the sweetened beverages in the study were soft drinks.
The overall amount of food eaten, especially low-quality foods, was also associated with being overweight. Yet each of these patterns explained only a little of the variation in obesity among the children, say the researchers.
“Only 3 percent of the variance in body mass index was explained by the various eating patterns, which has small health public health significance,” Nicklas emphasizes.
The eating patterns linked to overweight status were different among children depending on their gender and ethnicity. For instance, among white boys, sweets, the size of the dinner meal and the amount of snack foods consumed were associated with overweight status. Seafood, sweets and the total amount of food consumed were associated with being overweight in white girls.
Among black girls, however, consuming less fruit and fruit juices, smaller breakfasts and a lower number of daily meals were linked to overweight status.
Physical activity has also decreased among the Bogalusa children, according to the researchers, who suggest this may interact with eating habits to increase the prevalence of weight problems among the students.
The study was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
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