Association of beverage consumption with obesity in Mexican American children.

Beck AL, Tschann J, Butte NF, Penilla C, Greenspan LC.

Source

1 Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Francisco, 3333 California Street - Suite 245, Box 0503, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To determine the association of beverage consumption with obesity in Mexican American school-aged children.

DESIGN:

Cross-sectional study using the baseline data from a cohort study. Mothers and children answered questions about the frequency and quantity of the child's consumption of soda, diet soda, other sugar-sweetened beverages, 100 % fruit juice, milk and water. The questions were adapted from the Youth/Adolescent FFQ. Children were weighed and measured. Data were collected on the following potential confounders: maternal BMI, household income, maternal education, maternal occupational status, maternal acculturation, child physical activity, child screen time and child fast-food consumption. Logistic regression was used to examine the association between servings (240 ml) of each beverage per week and obesity (BMI ≥ 95th percentile).

SETTING:

Participants were recruited from among enrolees of the Kaiser Permanente Health Plan of Northern California. Data were collected via an in-home assessment.

SUBJECTS:

Mexican American children (n 319) aged 8-10 years.

RESULTS:

Among participants, 20 % were overweight and 31 % were obese. After controlling for potential confounders, consuming more servings of soda was associated with increased odds of obesity (OR = 1·29; P < 0·001). Consuming more servings of flavoured milk per week was associated with lower odds of obesity (OR = 0·88; P = 0·004). Consumption of other beverages was not associated with obesity in the multivariate model.

CONCLUSIONS:

Discouraging soda consumption among Mexican American children may help reduce the high obesity rates in this population.

TimAllenMDJD

Monday, January 14, 2013