Fruit and vegetable consumption and BMI change in primary school-age children: a cohort study

Abstract

Background/objectives: Healthy eating behaviours, such as increasing fruit and vegetable consumption (FVC), are frequently used as a target or outcome measure in obesity prevention interventions. The goal of this study was to demonstrate replacement of high-caloric foods/drinks by FVC and changes in body mass index (BMI) z-score associated with FVC.

Subjects/methods: Anthropometric measurements of 1252 children (51.0% girls) were taken before school entrance (age 6 years) and repeated in the fourth grade (age 10 years). At the same time, parents were asked about their children's diet using a questionnaire.

Results: In longitudinal analysis, changes in FVC were not significantly correlated with changes of other nutritional habits, such as consumption of sweets and high-caloric drinks. BMI gain tended to be lower (nonsignificant) in children with increasing fruit consumption compared to those with decreasing fruit consumption. An opposite (nonsignificant) tendency was observed for vegetable consumption and BMI gain.

Conclusions: Although beneficial for other health outcomes, the evidence for FVC replacing high-energy foods and thereby reducing BMI gain is weak and could not be substantiated in this study. This might be partially due to the limitation in dietary assessment.