Is maternal education level associated with diet in 10-year-old children?

OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations between maternal education level and diet in 10-year-old children. DESIGN: Three-day diet diaries (child completed with parental help) were collected. Height and weight were measured in research clinics. Maternal education level was derived from a questionnaire completed during pregnancy and classified into low, medium or high. One-way ANOVA was undertaken to compare maternal education groups for nutrient intakes and the Kruskal-Wallis test used for food consumption. SETTING: Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), Bristol, UK. SUBJECTS: Children (n 7474) who provided dietary data at age 10 years. RESULTS: A large proportion (60 %) of the sample was classified as plausible reporters, with under-reporting accounting for 36 %. No clear differences were found for intakes of energy or macronutrients between maternal education groups for plausible reporters. However, there were marked differences in micronutrient intakes especially for vitamin C, retinol equivalents and folate, highlighting lower diet quality with lower maternal education level. Intakes of fruit and vegetables showed a positive gradient with increasing maternal education (57 % v. 79 % consumed fresh fruit in low and high educational groups, respectively). A trend towards higher intake in the lower educated group was shown for less healthy foods (meat pies P < 0·001; sausages, burgers and kebabs P < 0·001). CONCLUSIONS: The quality of children's diet at 10 years was related to maternal education level. Lower maternal education was associated with less healthy food choices that could be detrimental to health. Further research is needed to establish if these associations can be explained by other socio-economic factors.

Influences on child fruit and vegetable intake: sociodemographic, parental and child factors in a longitudinal cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the sociodemographic, parental and child factors that predict fruit and vegetable consumption in 7-year-old children. DESIGN: Diet was assessed using three 1d unweighed food diaries. The child's daily fruit and vegetable consumption was calculated by summing the weight of each type of fruit, fruit juice and vegetable consumed. The various others factors measured were assessed by a questionnaire at different time points. SETTING: The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). SUBJECTS: A total of 7285 children aged 7 years residing in the south-west of England during 1999-2000. RESULTS: Median daily fruit and vegetable consumption (201 g) was below the recommendations for this age group (320 g). Girls ate more fruit and vegetables per unit energy (30.3 g/MJ) than boys (26.7 g/MJ; P =< 0.001). The predictors of fruit and vegetable consumption were mostly similar. Fruit and vegetable consumption was associated with maternal consumption, maternal education status and parental rules about serving fruit/vegetables every day, food expenditure per person and whether the child was choosy about food. Vegetable consumption was also associated with the other characteristics of the child, such as whether the child enjoyed food and whether the child tried a variety of foods. CONCLUSIONS: Children are not eating recommended amounts of fruit and vegetables, particularly boys. Consumption of fruit and vegetables appears to be influenced by parental rules about daily consumption and parental consumption and by the child's choosiness. Parent's actions could influence this. These findings may prove useful for those planning healthy eating campaigns for children.

Diet throughout childhood and age at menarche in a contemporary cohort of British girls.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations between dietary intakes throughout childhood and age at menarche, a possible indicator of future risk of disease, in a contemporary cohort of British girls. DESIGN: Diet was assessed by FFQ at 3 and 7 years of age, and by a 3 d unweighed food diary at 10 years. Age at menarche was categorised as before or after 12 years 8 months, a point close to the median age in this cohort. SETTING: Bristol, South-West England. SUBJECTS: Girls (n 3298) participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. RESULTS: Higher energy intakes at 10 years were positively associated with the early occurrence of menarche, but this association was removed on adjusting for body size. Total and animal protein intakes at 3 and 7 years were positively associated with age at menarche ≤12 years 8 months (adjusted OR for a 1 sd increase in protein at 7 years: 1·14 (95 % CI 1·04, 1·26)). Higher PUFA intakes at 3 and 7 years were also positively associated with early occurrence of menarche. Meat intake at 3 and 7 years was strongly positively associated with reaching menarche by 12 years 8 months (OR for menarche in the highest v. lowest category of meat consumption at 7 years: 1·75 (95 % CI 1·25, 2·44)). CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that higher intakes of protein and meat in early to mid-childhood may lead to earlier menarche. This may have implications for the lifetime risk of breast cancer and osteoporosis.

Associations of size at birth and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry measures of lean and fat mass at 9 to 10 y of age.

BACKGROUND: Birth weight has been positively associated with risk of overweight in later life. However, little information exists on how weight and length at birth are associated with subsequent lean and total body fat. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the association between weight and length at birth and body composition and fat distribution in childhood. DESIGN: Body composition was measured by using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in 9-10-y-old subjects (n = 3006 boys and 3080 girls). Weight and length at birth were measured or taken from hospital records. RESULTS: Birth weight was positively associated with both lean body mass (LBM) and total body fat at 9-10 y of age in both sexes. LBM rose by 320 g per 1-SD increase in birth weight (P < 0.001), and total body fat rose by 2.5% (P = 0.001), but birth weight was unassociated with the fat-to-lean mass ratio (FLR). Ponderal index (PI) at birth (ie, weight/length3) was positively associated with LBM, total body fat, and the FLR in both sexes; the FLR increased by 2.7% in boys (P = 0.021) and by 5.0% in girls per 1-SD increase in PI (P < 0.001). Weight and length at birth did not predict central adiposity; although trunk fat had a strong positive association with PI at birth, this association disappeared after adjustment for total body fat. CONCLUSIONS: Higher PI at birth is associated with both higher fat and lean mass in childhood but also with an increase in the FLR. PI at birth is a better predictor of subsequent adiposity than is birth weight.

Cross-sectional associations of diet and insulin-like growth factor levels in 7- to 8-year-old children.

BACKGROUND: The insulin-like growth factors (IGF) are polypeptide hormones which are associated with several adult diseases including cancer and coronary heart disease. The dietary determinants of circulating levels of components of the IGF system are of interest, as these may mediate some of the effects of diet on later health. However, few studies have examined the relationship between diet and IGF levels in children. OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations between diet and IGF-I and IGFBP-3 levels in 7- to 8-year-old children. METHODS: This study used subjects participating in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Diet was assessed using a 3-day unweighed food diary. Confounding variables considered were maternal education, housing tenure, birthweight, and body mass index. RESULTS: Complete information on dietary intakes, IGF levels, and all confounding variables were available for 521 children (287 boys). IGF-I was positively associated with intakes of protein, magnesium, zinc, calcium, potassium, and phosphorus, and IGFBP-3 was positively associated with energy. The IGF-I/IGFBP-3 ratio was positively associated with intakes of protein, zinc, and phosphorus. There was some evidence that the dietary determinants of the IGF system differed between the sexes. None of the foods examined were strongly associated with IGF levels, in particular, there was no association with red meat or vegetable intake. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that the IGF axis in children is affected by diet. This may provide a mechanism whereby childhood diet could have a long-term effect on risk of chronic disease.

Dietary energy density affects fat mass in early adolescence and is not modified by FTO variants.

BACKGROUND: Dietary energy density (DED) does not have a simple linear relationship to fat mass in children, which suggests that some children are more susceptible than others to the effects of DED. Children with the FTO (rs9939609) variant that increases the risk of obesity may have a higher susceptibility to the effects of DED because their internal appetite control system is compromised. We tested the relationship between DED and fat mass in early adolescence and its interaction with FTO variants. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We carried out a prospective analysis on 2,275 children enrolled in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC). Diet was assessed at age 10 y using 3-day diet diaries. DED (kJ/g) was calculated excluding drinks. Children were genotyped for the FTO (rs9939609) variant. Fat mass was estimated at age 13 y using the Lunar Prodigy Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry scanner. There was no evidence of interaction between DED at age 10 y and the high risk A allele of the FTO gene in relation to fat mass at age 13 y (beta = 0.005, p = 0.51), suggesting that the FTO gene has no effect on the relation between DED at 10 y and fat mass at 13 y. When DED at 10 y and the A allele of FTO were in the same model they were independently related to fat mass at 13 y. Each A allele of FTO was associated with 0.35+/-0.13 kg more fat mass at 13 y and each 1 kJ/g DED at 10 y was associated with 0.16+/-0.06 kg more fat mass at age 13 y, after controlling for misreporting of energy intake, gender, puberty, overweight status at 10 y, maternal education, TV watching, and physical activity. CONCLUSIONS: This study reveals the multi-factorial origin of obesity and indicates that although FTO may put some children at greater risk of obesity, encouraging a low dietary energy density may be an effective strategy to help all children avoid excessive fat gain.

Smoking during pregnancy and offspring fat and lean mass in childhood.

OBJECTIVE: Maternal smoking during pregnancy has been shown to be associated with obesity in the offspring, but findings have been based mainly on BMI, which is derived from height and weight. This study examined the association between maternal and partner smoking during pregnancy and offspring total fat, truncal fat, and lean mass in childhood. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Analysis was based on 5689 white singletons born in 1991-1992 and enrolled in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, with maternal smoking data recorded for at least one trimester in pregnancy and their own body composition assessed by DXA at mean age 9.9 years. RESULTS: Smoking at any time during pregnancy was associated with higher offspring BMI [0.18 (95% confidence interval, 0.12 to 0.25) standard deviation units] and total fat mass [0.17 (95% confidence interval, 0.12 to 0.23) standard deviation units], after adjustment for age, sex, height, and height squared for total fat mass. These associations were not attenuated by adjustment for the confounding factors that were measured. Maternal smoking was also associated with lean mass and, to a lesser extent, truncal fat mass. Associations with partner's smoking were in the same direction but weaker than those of the mother's for all outcomes. DISCUSSION: Maternal smoking at any time during pregnancy is associated with higher offspring total fat mass at mean age 9.9 years. However, as the associations with partner smoking were only a little weaker than those with maternal smoking, confounding by social factors rather than a direct effect of maternal smoking is a possible explanation.