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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Research Project #426615

Research Project: Prevention of Obesity and Related Diseases

Location: Children's Nutrition Research Center

Project Number: 3092-51000-063-020-S
Project Type: Non-Assistance Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Mar 31, 2014
End Date: Mar 31, 2019

Objective:
Objective 1: Identify eating patterns (including, but not limited to, restaurant food consumption, beverage consumption, portion sizes, meal patterns and meal frequency, eating episodes, food group consumption, school meal participation and consumption, and dietary quality) in children, adolescents, and adults and examine the association with obesity and related health risk factors. Subobjective 1A: Examine the impact of meal patterns (e.g., breakfast, snacks, dinner) on dietary intake and health outcomes in children, adolescents, and adults. Subobjective 1B: Examine the impact of food group consumption on dietary intake and health outcomes in children, adolescents, and adults. Objective 2: Identify barriers and facilitators to Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) adherence, and examine the association with body mass index (BMI). Subobjective 2A: Semi-validate a Barriers and Facilitators Survey to adherence to the DGA. Subobjective 2B: Examine the association of DGA adherence profiles with BMI. Objective 3: Assess the impact of food security status (Food security vs. Food insecurity) on dietary intake measured using Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2005, among children across the different age groups, i.e., 2-5 years, 6-11 years, 12-15 years, and 16-18 years old, based on parent/family participation in federal food assistance programs. Subobjective 3A: Determine the food security status of children across the various age groups and by participation in federal food assistance programs. Subobjective 3B: Determine the association of food security status with dietary intake and diet quality (as measured by HEI-2010) among children, based on participation in federal food assistance programs. Subobjective 3C: Determine the impact of participation in federal food assistance programs on the association between food security status and nutrient density. Subobjective 3D: Determine the association between food security status and weight status of children, based on participation in federal food assistance programs. Objective 4: Assess the impact of food security status on costs of meals, based on costs per serving of food, nutrient density, and diet quality as measured by HEI-2005, among the children across the various age groups. Subobjective 4A: Obtain costs of foods consumed by children, based on costs per serving, nutrient density, and diet quality, using one day of dietary recalls. Subobjective 4B: Explore the associations between food costs and diet quality, nutrient density, and food security status based on participation in federal food assistance programs among children. Subobjective 4C: Assess consumer behaviors from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey's (NHANES) consumer behavior questionnaire. Subobjective 4D: Determine the impact of food security status on consumer behaviors among children.

Approach:
Obesity among adults and children has reached epidemic proportions. Today, an estimated two- thirds of US adults are overweight or obese, and one-third of US children are overweight and 17% are obese. Overweight children tend to remain overweight during follow-up periods of up to 20 years. Obesity is the result of energy imbalance, and dietary behaviors associated with overweight need to be examined. A major goal of this research is to identify new determinants of obesity. In this respect, while both nutrients and individual foods have been assessed for their association with obesity, few attempts have been made to identify broader eating patterns. The overall pattern of a diet may have more of an impact on obesity than any one food or nutrient. Consequently, this project aims to identify eating patterns associated with dietary intake and obesity in children, adolescents, and adults using extant datasets. Also, there is a greater tendency for children becoming obese if reared in a low-income, food insecure household. Food insecurity is related to poor dietary behaviors that can lead to net positive energy balance and obesity. Low-income families often experience food insecurity which is characterized by alternating patterns of "feast and famine", placing them at a higher risk for obesity. Thus, this project also aims to assess the impact of food security status on dietary intake, diet quality, and nutrient density, as well as participation in federal food assistance programs, consumer behaviors, and food costs.