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

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 (Po0.0001). Considering only high-energydense (ED)-CF (40% of the CF intake), there was a significant negative association with total protein, carbohydrate and saturated fatty acid intake (%E) (Po0.05), and a positive with total fat and PUFA (Po0.01). 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 ¼ 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/height 2 ) 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 (b 0.104, P ¼ 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.

Increased sedentary behaviour is associated with unhealthy dietary patterns in European adolescents participating in the HELENA study

“…For instance, the DONALD study 35 indicated a small but positive association between consumption of high-energy foods and body weight among boys (b ¼ 0.104, P ¼ 0.0098). Another Japanese study 36 observed a lower BMI among those adolescents with a 'healthier' DP and a higher BMI among those with 'western' DP.…”

Consumption of dietary salt measured by urinary sodium excretion and its association with body weight status in healthy children and adolescents

“…CF with high energy density and the change in %BF in children and adolescents within a study period of 5 years (3) . In contrast to the present examination the association between high-energy CF and %BF was significant only for boys.…”

Domestic cooking and food skills: A review

“…This focus on improving CS and FS can be partly attributed to the increasing rhetoric around the decline of cooking skills and parallel rise in consumption of convenience foods; where convenience products are typically considered to be of poorer nutritional quality and higher energy content when compared to home prepared and home cooked meals (Gillman, Rifa-Shiman, Frazier, et al, 2000). Indeed studies have shown positive associations with consumption of convenience foods and increases in body composition indices such as body mass (Alexy et al, 2011;Cornelisse-Vermaat & van den Brink, 2007), highlighting food preparation and cooking as key intervention targets. However, most interventions designed to improve diet quality by way of increasing CS and FS were unsuccessful when evaluated in these terms.…”