Skipping meals increases children’s obesity and cardiometabolic risk
A higher consumption of sugary drinks, red meat and low-fat margarine are also related to a higher cardiometabolic risk
Children who skip main meals are more likely to have excess body fat and an increased cardiometabolic risk by the age of 6–8, according to study conducted in Finland.
A higher consumption of sugary drinks, red meat and low-fat margarine and a lower consumption of vegetable oil are also related to a higher cardiometabolic risk.
'The more of these factors that are present, the higher the risk,' said Aino-Maija Eloranta, who presented the results in her doctoral thesis at the University of Eastern Finland.
The dietary habits, eating behaviour and dietary determinants of excess body fat and cardiometabolic risk were investigated in 512 girls and boys, aged 6–8 participating in the Physical Activity and Nutrition in Children (PANIC) study.
As well as the above, uncontrolled eating behaviour, such as eating fast, emotional overeating and a lower satiety responsiveness, were also associated with higher body fat.
Sticking to regular meals seems to be crucial for preventing overweight and cardiometabolic diseases already in childhood
The study also revealed that most children’s diets are far from ideal. Less than half of the children ate all three main meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) every day. Instead, snacks were a major source of energy and sucrose.
Only a minority of the children ate vegetables, fruit and berries as recommended. As many as 25% consumed sugary drinks daily and the intakes of saturated fat, sucrose and salt were higher and the intakes of dietary fibre, vitamin D and iron were lower than recommended among the children.
'Based on the findings, sticking to regular meals seems to be crucial for preventing overweight and cardiometabolic diseases already in childhood,' said Eloranta. In addition, parents need to provide their children with better dietary choices: regular-fat vegetable-oil margarines and vegetable oils instead of low-fat margarines, fat-free milk and water instead of sugary drinks, and more fish instead of red meat.
The results were originally published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, International Journal of Obesity and European Journal of Nutrition.
