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Convenience foods in children's diet and association with dietary quality and body weight status

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 65, pages 160–166 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background:

Pre-prepared commercial foods (convenience foods, CFs) are one aspect of modern dietary habits. The present paper examines the association between CF consumption and dietary quality or body weight status in a sample of German children and adolescents.

Methods:

Linear mixed-effect regression analyses using data from 586 participants (296 boys, 3–18 years) in the Dortmund Nutritional Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed Study, who yearly completed 1890 3-day dietary records and anthropometric measurements in 2004–2008, was used.

Results:

CF intake (percent total food intake) showed no significant association with macronutrient intakes (%E), with exception of a significant positive association with polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) intake (P<0.0001). Considering only high-energy-dense (ED)-CF (40% of the CF intake), there was a significant negative association with total protein, carbohydrate and saturated fatty acid intake (%E) (P<0.05), and a positive with total fat and PUFA (P<0.01). The nutrient quality index (harmonic mean of 10 vitamins and minerals as the percentage of the reference intakes) showed a significant negative trend with increased consumption of CF (P=0.0013). No significant association between baseline or change in consumption of CF and baseline or change in parameters of body weight (standard deviation score of body mass index (weight/height2) or percentage body fat (%BF) estimated from skinfolds) was found. Among boys, baseline consumption of high-ED-CF significantly predicted change in %BF during the study period (β 0.104, P=0.0098).

Conclusions:

Our results point to an impairment of dietary quality with high consumption of CF and to a small but positive association between consumption of high-ED-CF in boys and weight.

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Acknowledgements

The participation of all children and their families in the study is gratefully acknowledged. We also thank the DONALD Study team for carrying out the anthropometric measurements and collecting and validating the dietary data. The DONALD Study is supported by the Ministerium für Innovation, Wissenschaft, Forschung und Technologie des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany. The present evaluation was funded by a research grant from the Ministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute of Child Nutrition Dortmund, Rheinische Friedrich–Wilhelms–Universität Bonn, Dortmund, Germany

    U Alexy, L Libuda & M Kersting

  2. Department of Statistics, Technische Universität Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany

    S Mersmann

Authors
  1. U Alexy
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  2. L Libuda
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  3. S Mersmann
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  4. M Kersting
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Correspondence to U Alexy.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Contributors: UA and MK conceived the project; UA, LL and SM performed the data analyses; UA drafted the manuscript. All authors contributed to the interpretation of the data and revision of the manuscript.

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Alexy, U., Libuda, L., Mersmann, S. et al. Convenience foods in children's diet and association with dietary quality and body weight status. Eur J Clin Nutr 65, 160–166 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2010.254

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