Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Diet costs and energy density in the diet of German children and adolescents

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 66, pages 1362–1363 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

This study examined the association between energy density (ED, g/kJ) and diet costs (€/day) in a sample of 494 German children and adolescents aged 4–18 years using 1100 3-day-weighed dietary records from the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) Study (open cohort study) and retail food prices of 341 empirically selected recorded food items including special brands. ED was negatively associated with diet costs (β=−0.20 kJ/g, P<0.0007) with a non-linear term (β=0.01 kJ/g*kJ/g, P=0.0440). Diet costs increased with age (β=0.32 yr, P<0.0001) with a negative non-linear term (β=−0.01 yr*yr; P<0.0001). In conclusion, the inverse association between diet costs and ED was more pronounced in the older than in the younger age groups and in low-ED diets than in high-ED diets. Higher % diet costs of fruit/vegetables could be compensated by lower % diet costs of meat/sausage to lower ED without increasing diet costs.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

References

  1. Darmon N, Ferguson E, Briend A . Do economic constraints encourage the selection of energy dense diets? Appetite 2003; 41: 315–322.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Townsend MS, Aaron GJ, Monsivais P, Keim NL, Drewnowski A . Less-energy-dense diets of low-income women in California are associated with higher energy-adjusted diet costs. Am J Clin Nutr 2009; 89: 1220–1226.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Waterlander WE, de Haas WE, van Amstel I, Schuit AJ, Twisk JW, Visser M et al. Energy density, energy costs and income—how are they related? Public Health Nutr 2010; 13: 1599–1608.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Maillot M, Darmon N, Vieux F, Drewnowski A . Low energy density and high nutritional quality are each associated with higher diet costs in French adults. Am J Clin Nutr 2007; 86: 690–696.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Ryden PJ, Hagfors L . Diet cost, diet quality and socio-economic position: how are they related and what contributes to differences in diet costs? Public Health Nutr 2011; 14: 1680–1692.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Cox DN, Mela DJ . Determination of energy density of freely selected diets: methodological issues and implications. Int J Obes Relat Metab Disord 2000; 24: 49–54.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Darmon N, Caillavet F, Joly C, Maillot M, Drewnowski A . Low-cost foods: how do they compare with their brand name equivalents? A French study. Public Health Nutr 2009; 12: 808–815.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Kroke A, Manz F, Kersting M, Remer T, Sichert-Hellert W, Alexy U et al. The DONALD Study. History, current status and future perspectives. Eur J Nutr 2004; 43: 45–54.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Mensink GB, Bauch A, Vohmann C, Stahl A, Six J, Kohler S et al. EsKiMo—the nutrition module in the German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS). Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz 2007; 50: 902–908.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Research North-Rhine-Westphalia, Germany (DONALD Study). The participation of all children and their families in the DONALD Study is grateful acknowledged. We also thank the staff of the Research Institute of Child Nutrition for collecting and coding the dietary records.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rheinische Friedrich–Wilhelms–Universität, Bonn, Germany

    U Alexy, K Bolzenius & A Köpper

  2. Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund, Germany

    K Clausen & M Kersting

Authors
  1. U Alexy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. K Bolzenius
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. A Köpper
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. K Clausen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. M Kersting
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to U Alexy.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Contributors: UA and KC designed research, AK collected food prices and did initial analysis, KB performed the statistical analysis, UA, KC and MK wrote the manuscript. All authors made substantial contributions to the study or the interpretation of results and approved the final manuscript.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Alexy, U., Bolzenius, K., Köpper, A. et al. Diet costs and energy density in the diet of German children and adolescents. Eur J Clin Nutr 66, 1362–1363 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2012.128

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2012.128

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links