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Dietary energy density increases during early childhood irrespective of familial predisposition to obesity: results from a prospective cohort study

International Journal of Obesity volume 31, pages 1061–1067 (2007)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective:

This study compared 4-year changes in daily energy density (ED; kcal/g) in children born at different risk for obesity, characterized the stability of ED and examined associations between ED and child body composition.

Design:

Prospective cohort study to measure habitual dietary ED of children who are born at different risk for obesity.

Subjects:

Children who were born at high risk (n=22) or low risk (n=27) for obesity based on maternal pre-pregnancy weight.

Measurements:

Three-day food records were collected from children's mothers at child ages 3, 4, 5 and 6 years. Three categories of ED were computed (food only, food and milk, and food and all beverages) and body composition assessed at each year.

Results:

The mean (±s.e.m.) ED increased over time across all children (linear trend: P<0.003): 2.18±0.07 to 2.32±0.06 kcal/g (food only); 1.66±0.07 to 1.82±0.06 kcal/g (food and milk); and 1.24±0.04 to 1.37±0.05 kcal/g (food and all beverages). Intraindividual coefficients of variation were smaller than those previously reported for adults. Weight indices were not correlated with dietary ED (P>0.05).

Conclusion:

Dietary ED increased in young children, irrespective of their predisposition to obesity, between the ages of 3 and 6 years. The genes that promote childhood obesity may not exert their influence through dietary ED, which may be more strongly influenced by environmental factors.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by NIH Grant DK068899, the General Clinical Research Center (Grant RR 00240) and the Nutrition Center of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    T V E Kral, R I Berkowitz, A J Stunkard, D D Brown & M S Faith

  2. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    R I Berkowitz & M S Faith

  3. Division of GI, Hepatology and Nutrition, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    V A Stallings

  4. Department of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania, School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    V A Stallings

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  1. T V E Kral
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  2. R I Berkowitz
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  5. D D Brown
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Correspondence to T V E Kral.

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Kral, T., Berkowitz, R., Stunkard, A. et al. Dietary energy density increases during early childhood irrespective of familial predisposition to obesity: results from a prospective cohort study. Int J Obes 31, 1061–1067 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0803551

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