ResearchLongitudinal calcium intake is negatively related to children’s body fat indexes
Section snippets
Sample
Initially, infants were recruited through birth announcements in local newspapers and referrals from enrolled participants. The 8-year-old children in this study were a subset of the larger study (n=70), 9, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and included only those children whose mothers chose to have dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scans for themselves and their children. The child/mother pairs (n=53) were continuous participants in a longitudinal study of factors related to children’s
Sample characteristics
Fifty-three child/mother pairs agreed to participate in the DEXA assessment when children were 8 years old. However, one mother was pregnant; therefore her DEXA was not administered. Thus, the final sample was 52 child/mother pairs; 46 of these children participated in the earlier DEXA assessment when children were 5.9±1.1 years (9). Mean age of the children was 8.1±0.1 years; mean age of their mothers was 38.0±3.6 years.
Body composition
Anthropometric characteristics of mothers and 8-year-old children by
Discussion
The similarities of the children’s mean calcium intakes over time and the significant correlations among age periods highlight the importance of establishing food habits early in a child’s life. This notion is further supported by the reported consistency in children’s food preferences over time (18). Boulton et al (27) reported similar correlations in tracking calcium intake in Australian children from 2 to 15 years of age, but correlations for boys were stronger than for girls, which
Applications
Parents should be encouraged to help children develop health-promoting habits that include:
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Regular intake of calcium-rich foods, such as skim, 1% or 2% fat milk and other low-fat dairy products.
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Limited time spent in sedentary activities and increased time in physically active pursuits.
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Restricted intake of carbonated beverages and other low-nutrient beverages, such as fruit drinks, fruit “ades”, and tea.
Acknowledgements
This study was funded by Gerber Products Co. and the Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station.
J. D. Skinner and B. R. Carruth are professor emeriti, the Nutrition Department, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. W. Bounds is assistant professor, Southern Mississippi University, Hattiesburg, USA
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J. D. Skinner and B. R. Carruth are professor emeriti, the Nutrition Department, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. W. Bounds is assistant professor, Southern Mississippi University, Hattiesburg, USA
P. Ziegler is principal scientist, Gerber Products Co, Parsippany, NJ, USA