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. 2024 Jul 16;23(1):77.
doi: 10.1186/s12937-024-00986-6.

Seafood intake in childhood/adolescence and the risk of obesity: results from a Nationwide Cohort Study

Tianyue Zhang #  1 , Hao Ye #  1   2 , Xiaoqin Pang #  3 , Xiaohui Liu  1   2 , Yepeng Hu  1 , Yuanyou Wang  1 , Chao Zheng  4 , Jingjing Jiao  5   6 , Xiaohong Xu  7
Affiliations

Seafood intake in childhood/adolescence and the risk of obesity: results from a Nationwide Cohort Study

Tianyue Zhang et al. Nutr J. .

Abstract

Background & aims: Obesity has been linked to various detrimental health consequences. While there is established evidence of a negative correlation between seafood consumption and obesity in adults, the current research on the association between seafood intake in childhood/adolescence and the risk of obesity is lacking. Our aim was to evaluate the association between seafood intake in childhood/adolescence and the risk of obesity in a Chinese nationwide cohort.

Methods: We utilized data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) from the year of 1997 to 2015. Seafood consumption was evaluated through 3-day 24-hour recalls. In our study, overweight/obesity status was determined based on the Chinese Criteria of Overweight and Obesity in School-age Children and Adolescents (WS/T 586-2018), while abdominal obesity status was determined according to the Chinese Criteria of Waist Circumference Screening Threshold among Children and Adolescents (WS/T 611-2018).

Results: During an average follow-up of 7.9 years, 404 cases developed overweight/obesity among 2206 participants in the seafood-overweight/obesity analysis, while 381 cases developed abdominal obesity among 2256 participants in the seafood-abdominal-obesity analysis. The high-consumer group was associated with 35% lower risk of overweight/obesity risk and 26% lower risk of abdominal obesity after fully adjusting for sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, compared with the non-consumer group. Considering different cooking methods, boiled seafood consumption was associated with 43% lower risk of overweight/obesity and 23% lower risk of abdominal obesity in the fully adjusted model, while stir-fried seafood did not demonstrate a statistical significance.

Conclusion: Higher intake of seafood in childhood/adolescents, particularly in a boiled way, was associated with lower obesity risk.

Keywords: Childhood and adolescents; China health and nutrition survey; Obesity; Prospective cohort study; Seafood.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

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