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Dietary factors associated with metabolic risk score in Finnish children aged 6–8 years: the PANIC study

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Abstract

Purpose

Previous evidence for the associations of eating frequency and food consumption with clustering of metabolic risk factors among children is limited. We therefore investigated association of the daily number of main meals and snacks and food consumption with a metabolic risk score and individual metabolic risk factors in primary school children.

Methods

The subjects were a population sample of Finnish girls and boys 6–8 years of age. Dietary factors were measured by a four-day food record. Metabolic risk score was calculated summing up the Z-scores of waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and concentrations of fasting serum insulin and fasting plasma glucose, triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, the latest multiplying by −1.

Results

Skipping main meals (standardized regression coefficient β = −0.18, P < 0.001), a higher consumption of non-root vegetables (β = 0.18, P < 0.01), low-fat vegetable-oil-based margarine (β = 0.13, P < 0.01) and sugar-sweetened beverages (β = 0.11, P < 0.05) and a lower consumption of vegetable oils (β = −0.10, P < 0.05) were associated with a higher metabolic risk score after adjustment for age, sex, total physical activity, electronic media time, energy intake and other dietary factors. The consumption of red meat was directly related to the metabolic risk score, but the association was not statistically significant after adjustment for energy intake.

Conclusions

Eating main meals regularly, decreasing the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and low-fat margarine and increasing the consumption of vegetable oils should be emphasized to reduce metabolic risk among children.

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Acknowledgments

We thank all voluntary subjects and their families and the research team. This work was financially supported by grants from Ministry of Social Affairs and Health of Finland, Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland, Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, Social Insurance Institution of Finland, Finnish Cultural Foundation, Juho Vainio Foundation, Foundation for Paediatric Research, Paavo Nurmi Foundation, Diabetes Research Foundation, Paulo Foundation and Kuopio University Hospital.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physiology, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 1627, 70211, Kuopio, Finland

    A. M. Eloranta, V. Lindi, S. Kiiskinen, T. Venäläinen, H. M. Lakka, D. E. Laaksonen & T. A. Lakka

  2. Public Health, Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland

    A. M. Eloranta

  3. Clinical Nutrition, Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland

    U. Schwab

  4. Internal Medicine, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland

    U. Schwab & D. E. Laaksonen

  5. Kuopio Research Institute of Exercise Medicine, Kuopio, Finland

    T. A. Lakka

  6. Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland

    T. A. Lakka

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  1. A. M. Eloranta
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  2. V. Lindi
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  3. U. Schwab
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  4. S. Kiiskinen
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  5. T. Venäläinen
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  6. H. M. Lakka
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  7. D. E. Laaksonen
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  8. T. A. Lakka
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Correspondence to A. M. Eloranta.

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Eloranta, A.M., Lindi, V., Schwab, U. et al. Dietary factors associated with metabolic risk score in Finnish children aged 6–8 years: the PANIC study. Eur J Nutr 53, 1431–1439 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-013-0646-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-013-0646-z

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