Dietary patterns in Mexican preschool children are associated with stunting and overweight

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the association between dietary patterns, stunting, and overweight among Mexican preschoolers. METHODS This study was conducted with anthropometric (weight, height/length), sociodemographic (age, gender, education level of household head, socioeconomic status, country region and area, ethnicity, and beneficiary of social programs), and dietary data (Semiquantitative-food frequency questionnaire) on children aged from 1 to 4 years collected from the Mexican National Health and Nutrition Survey-2012. Dietary patterns were derived by principal components analysis. The association between dietary patterns, stunting, and overweight was assessed by prevalence ratios (PR), estimated by Poisson regression. RESULTS In total, 1,112 preschoolers (mean age 3.06 years, SD = 1.08 years; 48.8% females) were included in the study; 11.9% of whom presented stunting, and 6.7% overweight. We identified four dietary patterns: Fruits and Vegetables [F&V], Western [W], Traditional [T], and Milk and Liquids [M&L]. Considering the lowest tertile of each dietary pattern as reference, the prevalence of stunting was 2.04 times higher [95%CI: 1.17–3.56] among children in the highest tertile of the “F&V” pattern. The prevalence of stunting was lower among children in the highest tertile of the “W” pattern [PR = 0.48; 95%CI: 0.27–0.85]. Overweight was negatively associated with the “F&V” dietary pattern [PR = 0.37; 95%CI: 0.16–0.85 for its highest tertile], and children whose consumption was mostly equivalent to the “T” pattern showed higher prevalence of stunting [PR = 1.74; 95%CI: 1.01–3.00]. CONCLUSIONS The prevalence of stunting and overweight in a nationwide sample of Mexican preschoolers was associated with dietary patterns.

Ecological determinants of obesity risk in Mexican infants: a scoping review

“…By describing them and their relationship with some indicators of overweight and obesity, our findings showed the following: in the child sphere, most of the risk factors corresponded to characteristics of the child and practices related to nutrition. Those related to some indicators of child overweight and obesity were birth by cesarean section 43 and high birth weight 26 ; as for nutritional practices, those related to child overweight and obesity were adiponectin levels in breast milk 31 , higher daily caloric intake 27 , lower consumption of fruits and vegetables, and traditional diet 30 . Conflicting data were found on the protective effect of breastfeeding 23,26,33,39 .…”

Determinants of Picky Eating Behavior Among Preschoolers in Zagazig City, Egypt

“…Also, a study conducted in Central Vietnam [25] revealed that the prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight were 11.6%, 2.2% and 2.2%, respectively. Moreover, Flores et al [26] in Mexico found that 11.9% of preschool children presented stunting and less than five percent had sever stunting.…”

Dietary patterns and childhood stunting in Zimbabwe

“…In contrast to our findings, the study in Kenya reported that the indigenous diet termed ‘traditional dietary pattern’ is more likely to be protective of adverse nutrition outcomes as it more often contains a wide variety of food items that are easily accessible to most ordinary community members (Tanaka et al, 2019). Multiple studies have confirmed the role of dietary patterns with nearly all forms of childhood malnutrition [ 35 – 37 ]. Childhood illnesses such as fever, worms and diarrhoea were found to significant predictors of childhood stunting.…”