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

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

The present paper examines the influence of age and gender on food patterns of Latino children.

DESIGN:

Data 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.

SETTING:

Rural communities in California's Central Valley, USA.

SUBJECTS:

Two hundred and seventeen parents (87-89% born in Mexico) and their children (aged 2-8 years).

RESULTS:

Fifty-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).

CONCLUSIONS:

Acculturation 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.

• Authors: Lucia L Kaiser, Alberto L Aguilera, Marcel Horowitz, Catherine Lamp, Margaret Johns, Rosa Gomez-Camacho, Lenna Ontai, Adela de la Torre
• Journal: Public health nutrition (Public Health Nutr) Vol. 18 Issue 16 Pg. 3042-50 (Nov 2015) ISSN: 1475-2727 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 25631174 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.)

Topics

• Acculturation
• Adult
• Age Factors
• Body Mass Index
• California (epidemiology)
• Child
• Child, Preschool
• Diet
• Fast Foods
• Feeding Behavior
• Female
• Hispanic or Latino
• Humans
• Male
• Mexico (ethnology)
• Mothers
• Obesity (epidemiology, etiology)
• Prevalence
• Risk Factors
• Rural Population
• Sex Factors