Do Children and Adolescents with Overweight or Obesity Adhere to the National Food-Based Dietary Guidelines in Greece?

Abstract

Childhood obesity increases the risk for metabolic disorders, but is also related to nutritional deficiencies, such as anemia and hypovitaminosis D. Although children/adolescents with overweight/obesity may have higher energy intake, their diet quality and diversity may be low. The present study aimed to evaluate the consumption of foods against the national food-based dietary guidelines in children and adolescents with overweight or obesity in Greece. Sociodemographic, anthropometric and lifestyle data were collected from a sample of 1467 children 2–18 years old (962 obese, 505 overweight, 51.2% females) in 2014–2017. The results of this study show that the consumption of dairy products, fruit, vegetables, legumes and fish by children/adolescents with overweight or obesity was lower than the national recommendations (ranging from a minimum of 39.5% for fish, to a maximum of 75.5% for cereal/potato/rice). Only the consumption of meat/poultry was found to exceed the national recommendation (estimated coverage of 131.3%). Moreover, a large proportion of participants regularly consumed various unhealthy foods/beverages. The present findings indicate that the majority of children/adolescents with overweight/obesity do not comply with the national food-based dietary guidelines in Greece. The implementation of new strategies to promote healthy diets among children/adolescents with overweight/obesity are urgently required.

Cumplimiento de las Guías Alimentarias en adolescentes chilenos: un estudio transversal de la Encuesta Nacional de Salud 2016-2017

“…Esta tendencia de falta de adherencia al consumo de alimentos saludables recomendados por las GABA ha sido observado en otras investigaciones. Por ejemplo, en un estudio realizado en niños y adolescentes con malnutrición por exceso de Grecia, y en el que se midió el consumo de alimentos de acuerdo con las directrices que entregan las Guías Alimentarias Basadas en Alimentos vigentes en el país, se identificó que los menores consumían en forma diaria 2,1 porciones de lácteos, 0,8 de verduras y 1,5 de frutas, lo que correspondía al 73,2%, 45,3% y 75% respectivamente del consumo medio recomendado 26 . Por otra parte, el consumo de pescado correspondía a 0,9 porción semanal (39,5% de lo recomendado por las Guías locales) Datos presentados como coeficiente sus respectivos 95% IC.…”

“…IMC: índice de masa corporal; PAD: presión arterial sistólica; PAS: presión arterial diastólica, considerando como grupo de referencia, a los adolescentes que cumplían con 3 recomendaciones o más. y las legumbres correspondían a 52,7% del consumo recomendado (1,7 porción semanal) 26 . Si bien, nuestra estrategia metodológica no se compara a lo realizado en la investigación griega, sí se puede reconocer que alimentos como los lácteos, legumbres, pescados, frutas y verduras presentan una tendencia a no ser consumidos de manera adecuada y recomendada por las GABA por parte de los adolescentes.…”

Assessment of Diet Quality in Children and Adolescents with Overweight or Obesity in Greece

“…The methodology of the current cross-sectional study is described elsewhere [13]. In brief, it was conducted from October 2014-March 2017.…”

Promoting Physical and Mental Health among Children and Adolescents via Gamification—A Conceptual Systematic Review

“…Additionally, gamified scenarios can be tailored to address health concerns among children and adolescents. For instance, gamification has been utilized to promote adherence to national food-based dietary guidelines and increase knowledge of healthier nutritional practices [14]. It has also been investigated as a tool for assessing and intervening in behavioral problems such as conduct disorder, self-harming tendencies, and attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) [15].…”