Research: current research
Children’s meal patterns have changed over a 21-year period: the Bogalusa heart study

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Abstract

Objective

The objective of this study was to analyze children’s meal patterns over 2 decades.

Design

One 24-hour dietary recall was collected on each child who participated in one of seven cross-sectional surveys.

Subjects/setting

Dietary intake data were collected on 1,584 10-year-old children (65% white, 35% African American), in Bogalusa, LA, from 1973 to 1994.

Statistical analyses

Descriptive statistics and one-way analysis of variance adjusting for gender and ethnicity.

Results

From 1973 to 1978, there was a marked increase (P<.0001) in the percentage of children who skipped breakfast, from 8.2% to 29.6%. When school breakfast was introduced in 1981, the proportion of children skipping breakfast declined to 12.5% (P<.01). From 1973–1974 to 1993–1994, the percentage of children eating a school lunch declined from 89.7% (1973–1974) to 78.2% (1993–1994) (P<.001); eating lunch brought from home increased from 5.9% to 11.1% (P<.01); consuming a home dinner decreased from 89.2% to 75.9% (P<.01); eating a dinner prepared outside the home increased from 5.4% to 19.0% (P<.01); consuming a meal at a restaurant increased from 0.3% to 5.4% (P<.0001); consuming snacks decreased (P<.0001); total eating episodes decreased from 6.6 to 5.2 (P<.0001); and eating time span significantly decreased from 12.4 hours to 11.5 hours (P<.0001). Despite these changes in meal patterns, no associations were found between meal patterns and overweight status.

Conclusions

Striking alterations in the meal patterns of children occurred over the 2-decade period. These changes may have implications for the changes in the dietary intakes of children during the same time. However, data from this study do not support an association between meal patterns and children’s overweight status. Further research with multiple days of assessment is needed to better understand the complexity of diet as it relates to childhood obesity.

Section snippets

Population

Children attending the fifth grade (age 10 years) in the Bogalusa, LA, school system were targeted for study during each of seven cross-sectional surveys from 1973 to 1994. Sample sizes and mean age of children by ethnicity (white and African American), gender, and survey year are shown in Table 1. Varying proportions of children were randomly selected for dietary interview during each cross-sectional survey: 1973–1974 (year 1), 50%; 1976–1977 (year 4), 50%; 1978–1979 (year 6), 75%; 1981–1982

Meal patterns

From 1973 to 1979, no school breakfast program was offered in the Bogalusa elementary schools. During that time, the percentage of children consuming a home breakfast significantly decreased from 86% (1973–1974) to 68% (1978–1979) (P<.05) (Figure 1). This decrease was significant for males (P<.001), females (P<.01), whites (P<.001), and African Americans (P<.001). Concomitant with this trend, there was a dramatic increase in the percentage of children skipping breakfast from 8% (1973–1974) to

Discussion

Dietary intakes of children have changed in the past three decades 42, 43, 44, 45. Specific to the 10-year-olds in Bogalusa, the percentage of energy from fat decreased and the percentage from protein and carbohydrate increased (42). Despite the shift toward a healthier diet, total energy intake remained the same (42), or in some cases increased (43). These nutrient intake trends among children are counterintuitive to what one would expect with the increasing prevalence of childhood obesity 46,

Conclusions

Meal patterns have been implicated in obesity, nutrient utilization, and a number of physiologic changes. The majority of the studies related to meal patterns and physiologic outcomes has been conducted with adults. Additional studies are needed to document meal patterns of children and the associations with childhood obesity.

Children’s meal patterns have changed much over a 2-decade period. Consumption of school lunch and snacks decreased and the number of dinners consumed outside the home

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, Evolution of Cardiovascular Risk with Normal Aging, National Institute on Aging (AG16592) and the United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service Cooperative Agreement No. 43-3AEM-0-80071. Partial support was received from the Kellogg’s Company, MARS, Inc, and the Sugar Association. This work is a product of the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS), Children’s

T. A. Nicklas is a professor of pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Children’s Nutrition Research Center, Houston, TX.

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  • Cited by (0)

    T. A. Nicklas is a professor of pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Children’s Nutrition Research Center, Houston, TX.

    S.-J. Yang is a statistician, Baylor College of Medicine, Children’s Nutrition Research Center, Houston, TX.

    T. Baranowski is a professor of pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Children’s Nutrition Research Center, Houston, TX.

    M. Morales is a statistical analyst, University of Houston-Downtown, Houston, TX.

    A. Linares is a resident at Brooklyn Hospital, Brooklyn, NY; at the time of the study, she was a graduate student at the University of Texas, School of Public Health, Houston.

    C. de Moor is an assistant professor at the University of Texas, School of Public Health, Houston.

    G. Berenson is a professor, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Center of Cardiovascular Health, New Orleans, LA.

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