Della Bella, S.

Marques-Vida, P.

Rangelov, N.

Suggs, S.

English

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Association of food intake and body mass indexamong 6 to 12 year old Swiss childrenSuzanne SuggsS Suggs1, S Della Bella1, P Marques-Vida2, N Rangelov11Institute of Public Communication (ICP), Universita` della Svizzera Italiana,Lugano, Switzerland2Faculte´ de biologie et me´decine,UNIL-CHUV, Lausanne, SwitzerlandContact: suzanne.suggs@usi.chBackgroundTogether with physical activity, eating behavior is one of theprimary determinants of a child’s risk of obesity. Yet, previousstudies concerning the association between a child’s body massindex (BMI) and their food intake have provided mixedfindings. This study aimed to understand whether pediatricoverweight and obesity are associated with eating certain fooditems.MethodWe work with a sample of 607 Swiss children living in theCanton Ticino, who enrolled in the FAN project – (Family,physical Activity and Nutrition) and completed a 7-day fooddiary in 2010. These data were used to calculate the dailyaverage consumption for eight food groups. Height and weightof the children were reported by their parents and used tocalculate the children’s BMI according to the criteria of theU.S. Centre for Disease Control and Prevention. Usingmultivariate linear regression models, we investigate theexistence of an association between a child’s BMI and theirdaily consumption of certain foods, including gender, age ofthe child, BMI and education of the parent as control variables.344 European Journal of Public Health, Vol. 25, Supplement 3, 2015ResultsIn our sample, overweight and obese children do not differfrom healthy weight children in terms of daily consumption offruit, vegetables, dairy and meat. Yet, compared to healthyweight children, overweight and obese children reported ahigher consumption of fish (ß = 0,047; SE = 0,022) and lowerconsumption of sweets, salty snacks and sugary drinks (SSD)(ß =0,316; SE = 0,122), cereal (ß =0,184; SE = 0,064), eggs(ß =0,030; SE = 0,016).ConclusionsSwiss overweight and obese children do differ from healthyweight children in terms of the daily consumption of SSD,cereals, fish and eggs, though some results may appear puzzling(such as the inverse association between the consumption ofSSD and being overweight/obese). The paper highlights anddiscusses the possible methodological and substantive reasonsbehind these results.Key message Swiss overweight and healthy weight children eat acomparable amount of fruits and vegetables. Programspromoting healthy diet in overweight children may beoverlooking key determinants of weight8th European Public Health Conference: Poster Walks 345

Association of food intake and body mass index among 6 to 12 year old Swiss children: Suzanne Suggs

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Association of food intake and body mass index among 6 to 12 year old Swiss children: Suzanne Suggs

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