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. 2015 Jul;145(7):1524-30.
doi: 10.3945/jn.114.206359. Epub 2015 Apr 29.

Usual Dietary Energy Density Distribution Is Positively Associated with Excess Body Weight in Mexican Children

Tania C Aburto  1 , Alejandra Cantoral  1 , Lucia Hernández-Barrera  1 , Alicia L Carriquiry  2 , Juan A Rivera  3
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Free article

Usual Dietary Energy Density Distribution Is Positively Associated with Excess Body Weight in Mexican Children

Tania C Aburto et al. J Nutr. 2015 Jul.
Free article

Abstract

Background: Studies suggest a positive association between dietary energy density (DED) and body weight in adults, but evidence in children is inconclusive.

Objective: The objective of this study was to compare usual DED distributions of nonoverweight vs. overweight or obese (OW/O) Mexican children.

Methods: The study used 24-h recall (24HR) data from 2367 children aged 5-11 y from the 2012 Mexican National Health and Nutrition Survey (ENSANUT 2012). Repeated 24HR measures were obtained in a random sample (∼10%) to estimate usual intake distributions by using the Iowa State University (PC-Side) method. Implausible dietary reports were identified. Multivariate linear regression models were used to evaluate the relation between DED and body mass index status and to compare results with and without PC-Side adjustment and restriction to plausible reporters.

Results: A total of 35.1% of the children in the sample were OW/O. The usual DED mean was ∼175 kcal/100 g in both the complete sample and the plausible reporters subsample. Regression models adjusted by PC-Side and for potential confounders showed higher DED in OW/O relative to nonoverweight children for both plausible reporters (9.7 kcal/100 g; n = 1452, P < 0.0001) and the complete sample (7.9 kcal/100 g; n = 2367, P < 0.0001). The DED difference in plausible reporters translates into 88 additional kilocalories in daily energy intake of OW/O children. In the absence of PC-side adjustment, the difference was significant for plausible reporters (P < 0.05) but not for the complete sample (P > 0.10).

Conclusions: A positive association between usual DED and OW/O was found in Mexican children. The association was stronger when only plausible reporters were considered. This suggests that there is a need for strategies to reduce energy density in the diet of Mexican children.

Keywords: Mexico; childhood obesity; diet; dietary energy density; nutrition survey; usual distribution.

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