Maternal concerns about children overeating among low-income children.

Addressing overeating is essential to obesity treatment and prevention. The objectives of this study were to investigate maternal concern for child overeating, to identify associated participant characteristics and to determine if concern for child overeating is associated with maternal feeding practices. Low-income mothers (N=289) of children (mean age 70.8months) participated in a semi-structured interview. Themes of maternal concern for child overeating were identified and a coding scheme was reliably applied. Maternal feeding practices were measured by questionnaire and videotaped eating interactions. Logistic regressions were used to test the associations of participant characteristics with the presence of each theme, and bivariate analyses were used to test the associations of the presence of each theme with feeding practices. Three themes were identified: 1) mothers worry that their child does overeat, 2) mothers acknowledge that their child may overeat but indicate that it is not problematic because they manage their child's eating behavior, and 3) mothers acknowledge that their child may overeat but indicate that it is not problematic because of characteristics inherent to the child. Child obesity predicted the themes; mothers of obese and overweight children are more likely to be concerned about overeating. Themes were associated with lower levels of observed pressure to eat. Only Theme 2 was associated with greater restrictive feeding practices. Interventions that provide parents' practical, healthy ways to prevent child overeating may be helpful.

Prenatal substance exposure: What predicts behavioral resilience by early adolescence?

Understanding behavioral resilience among at-risk adolescents may guide public policy decisions and future programs. We examined factors predicting behavioral resilience following intrauterine substance exposure in a prospective longitudinal birth-cohort study of 136 early adolescents (ages 12.4-15.9 years) at risk for poor behavioral outcomes. We defined behavioral resilience as a composite measure of lack of early substance use initiation (before age 14), lack of risky sexual behavior, or lack of delinquency. Intrauterine substance exposures included in this analysis were cocaine, tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana. We recruited participants from Boston Medical Center as mother-infant dyads between 1990 and 1993. The majority of the sample was African American/Caribbean (88%) and 49% female. In bivariate analyses, none and lower intrauterine cocaine exposure level predicted resilience compared with higher cocaine exposure, but this effect was not found in an adjusted model. Instead, strict caregiver supervision (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 6.02, 95% confidence interval (CI) [1.90, 19.00], p = .002), lower violence exposure (AOR = 4.07, 95% CI [1.77, 9.38], p < .001), and absence of intrauterine tobacco exposure (AOR = 3.71, 95% CI [1.28, 10.74], p = .02) predicted behavioral resilience. In conclusion, caregiver supervision in early adolescence, lower violence exposure in childhood, and lack of intrauterine tobacco exposure predicted behavioral resilience among a cohort of early adolescents with significant social and environmental risk. Future interventions should work to enhance parental supervision as a way to mitigate the effects of adversity on high-risk groups of adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record

Maternal feeding practices become more controlling after and not before excessive rates of weight gain.

It is unclear whether controlling maternal feeding practices (CMFPs) lead to or are a response to increases in a child's BMI. Our goal was to determine the direction of this relationship. Data were obtained from National Institute of Child Health and Human Development's Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Child BMI z-score (zBMI) was calculated from measured weight and height. CMFP was defined by, "Do you let your child eat what he/she feels like eating?". Change in child zBMI was calculated between 4-7 years and 7-9 years, and dichotomized into "increasing" vs. "no change or decreasing". Change in CMFP was calculated over the same time periods, and dichotomized into "more controlling" vs. "no change or less controlling." Multiple logistic regression, stratified by gender and controlling for race, maternal education, maternal weight status, and baseline child weight status, was used for analysis. A total of 789 children were included. From 4 to 9 years, mean zBMI increased (P = 0.02) and mothers became more controlling (P < 0.001). Increasing CMFP between 4 and 7 years was associated with decreased odds of increasing zBMI between 7 and 9 years in boys (odds ratio = 0.52, 95% confidence interval = 0.27-1.00). There was no relationship in girls. Increasing zBMI between 4 and 7 years was associated with increasing CMFPs between 7 and 9 years in girls (odds ratio = 1.72, 95% confidence interval = 1.08-2.74), but not boys. Early increases in CMFP were not associated with later increases in zBMI for boys or girls. However, early increases in zBMI among girls were associated with later increases in CMFP. Clarifying the relationship between maternal feeding practices and child weight will inform future recommendations.

Unique dietary patterns and chronic disease risk profiles of adult men: the Framingham nutrition studies.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the dietary patterns of adult men and examine their relationships with nutrient intake and chronic disease risk over long-term follow-up. DESIGN/SUBJECTS: Baseline 145-item food frequency questionnaires from 1,666 Framingham Offspring-Spouse cohort men were used to identify comprehensive dietary patterns. Independent 3-day dietary records at baseline and 8 years later provided estimates of subjects' nutrient intake by dietary pattern. Chronic disease risk factor status was compared at baseline and 16-year follow-up across all male dietary patterns. STATISTICAL ANALYSES: Cluster analysis was applied to food frequency data to identify non-overlapping male dietary patterns. Analysis of covariance and logistic regression were used to compare nutrient intake, summary nutritional risk scores, and chronic disease risk status at baseline and follow-up by male dietary pattern. RESULTS: Five distinct and comprehensive dietary patterns of Framingham Offspring-Spouse men were identified and ordered according to overall nutritional risk: Transition to Heart Healthy, Higher Starch, Average Male, Lower Variety, and Empty Calories. Nutritional risk was high and varied by dietary pattern; key nutrient contrasts were stable over 8-year follow-up. Chronic disease risk also varied by dietary pattern and specific subgroup differences persisted over 16 years, notably rates of overweight/obesity and smoking. CONCLUSIONS: Quantitative cluster analysis applied to food frequency questionnaire data identified five distinct, comprehensive, and stable dietary patterns of adult Framingham Offspring-Spouse cohort men. The close associations between the dietary patterns, nutritional risk, and chronic disease profiles of men emphasize the importance of targeted preventive nutrition interventions to promote health in the male population.