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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2018 Oct 13;10(10):1500.
doi: 10.3390/nu10101500.

Improved Diet Quality and Nutrient Adequacy in Children and Adolescents with Abdominal Obesity after a Lifestyle Intervention

Ana Ojeda-Rodríguez  1   2 , Itziar Zazpe  3   4   5   6 , Lydia Morell-Azanza  7   8 , María J Chueca  9   10 , Maria Cristina Azcona-Sanjulian  11   12 , Amelia Marti  13   14   15
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Improved Diet Quality and Nutrient Adequacy in Children and Adolescents with Abdominal Obesity after a Lifestyle Intervention

Ana Ojeda-Rodríguez et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

High rates of childhood obesity require integral treatment with lifestyle modifications that achieve weight loss. We evaluated a lifestyle intervention on nutrient adequacy and diet quality in children and adolescents with abdominal obesity. A randomized controlled trial was performed on 107 participants, assigned either to a usual care group or to an intensive care group that followed a moderate hypocaloric Mediterranean diet and received nutritional education. Intake adequacy was evaluated using Dietary Reference Intakes and diet quality through the Diet Quality Index for Adolescents (DQI-A), the Healthy Lifestyle Diet-Index (HLD-I) and the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index (KIDMED). Both groups achieved a significant reduction in BMI standard deviation score (BMI-SDS), glucose and total cholesterol levels. Intake of Calcium, Iodine and vitamin D were higher in the intensive care group, with enhanced compliance with recommendations. Higher dietary scores were associated with lower micronutrient inadequacy. DQI-A and HLD-I were significantly higher in the intensive care group vs. usual care group after the treatment. In conclusion, we observed that an intensive lifestyle intervention was able to reduce BMI-SDS in children with abdominal obesity. Furthermore, participants significantly improved dietary indices getting closer to the nutritional recommendations. Therefore, these diet quality indices could be a valid indicator to evaluate micronutrient adequacy.

Keywords: Mediterranean diet; childhood obesity; dietary intervention; nutritional requirements.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Change in the compliance (%) of the dietary recommendations (EAR) after lifestyle intervention in children with abdominal obesity. * p-value < 0.05, ** p-value < 0.01 and *** p-value < 0.001.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Micronutrient inadequacy (%) across the tertiles (T) of Diet Quality Index (A), Healthy Lifestyle Diet Index (B) and Mediterranean Diet Quality (C) at baseline in children with abdominal obesity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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