Abstract
Background/Objective:
In Chile, approximately one in three children under 6 years of age reported overweight/obese, while one in four children in elementary school suffer from obesity. There is a paucity of population-based information on the influence of childhood eating behavior on anthropometric measures related to obesity. To assess the association between eating behavior scores and Body Mass Index (BMI) z-scores in 7–10-year-old Chilean children.
Subjects/Methods:
We conducted a cross-sectional study in 1058 children aged 7–10 (51% girls) from the ‘Growth and Obesity Chilean Cohort Study’ (GOCS). Direct measures of weight and height were used to compute BMI z-scores according to World Health Organization (WHO) curves. Children were classified as normal weight (−1<1 s.d.), overweight (1<2 s.d.) and obese (⩾2 s.d.). Eating behavior scores were measured through the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ), previously adapted and validated for Chilean children. Multiple linear regressions were carried out using BMI z-score as the outcome and eating behavior scores as explanatory variables. All models were adjusted by age and gender.
Results:
BMI z-scores were positively associated with pro-intake scores in the subscales ‘enjoyment of food’, ‘emotional overeating’ and ‘food responsiveness’ (P<0.0001). Contrary to other studies, ‘desire for drinks’ scores were also associated with BMI z-scores (P<0.0001). In contrast, food-avoidant ‘satiety responsiveness’, ‘slowness in eating’ and ‘food-fussiness’ scores were negatively associated with BMI z-scores (P<0.0001).
Conclusion:
We found a significant relationship between eating behavior scores and BMI z-scores in Chilean children, showing that BMI in 7–10-year-old Chilean children is positively associated with pro-intake eating behavior scores and negatively associated with anti-intake eating behavior scores. The identification of specific eating behaviors patterns related to obesity will provide important information for the implementation of prevention programs for this disease.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by FONDECYT 1100206, 1120326 and 1150416.
Author contributions
The authors’ responsibilities were as follows—US, GW and JS designed the research and wrote the manuscript; US analyzed the data and had primary responsibility for the final content. CC and RU were final reviewers for scientific content and language. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Sánchez, U., Weisstaub, G., Santos, J. et al. GOCS cohort: children's eating behavior scores and BMI. Eur J Clin Nutr 70, 925–928 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2016.18
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2016.18
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