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Epidemiology and Population Health

Diet quality of Norwegian children at 3 and 7 years: changes, predictors and longitudinal association with weight

International Journal of Obesity volume 46, pages 10–20 (2022)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives

Poor diet quality in early life can have long-term health effects, but the evidence is largely from cross-sectional studies. Our objective was to examine diet quality of Norwegian children by applying a-priori diet quality indices, identify early life determinants and examine prospective associations with overweight.

Subjects/Methods

We included 34,074 preschoolers (3-year-olds) and 18,350 school-aged children (7-years-olds) from the prospective, population-based Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study. Diet quality was assessed as (i) adherence to a Mediterranean diet, estimated by the food frequency-based Mediterranean Diet Score (fMDS, score range: 0–6) and (ii) by the diet quality index (DQI, score range: −33% to 100%), reflecting compliance to food-based dietary guidelines. In multivariate analyses we explored perinatal and childhood characteristics as potential determinants of diet quality. We used logistic regression to examine the associations between diet quality at 3 years and BMI status at 8 years, adjusting for relevant confounders and diet quality at 7 years.

Results

One in three children had high MD adherence at 3 and 8 years, and DQI (mean 60%) at 3 and 7 years was strongly correlated (r = 0.48, p < 0.001). Short breastfeeding duration, physical activity and sleep duration and long screentime at 18 months were associated with 2–3% lower DQI at 3 years. At both ages, maternal diet quality was the strongest prospective predictor of DQI (beta = 5%, 95% CI = 4.7, 5.2 and beta = 3.1%, 95% CI = 2.8, 3.4), and screentime was the strongest cross-sectional predictor (beta = −5.2%, 95% CI = −5.9, −4.5 and beta = −4.1%, 95% CI = −5.0, −3.2). High DQI score at 3 years, but not MD adherence, was associated with a lower risk for overweight (including obesity) at 8 years, compared to low DQI (lower tertile) (adjusted OR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.62, 0.96).

Conclusions

Our study provides evidences that high diet quality in early childhood may reduce the risk for overweight in later childhood, independent of the current dietary behaviors.

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Data availability

The consent given by the participants does not open for storage of data on an individual level in repositories or journals. Researchers who want access to data sets for replication should submit an application to www.datatilgang@fhi.no. Access to data sets requires approval from The Regional Committee for Medical and Health Research Ethics in Norway and an agreement with MoBa.”

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Acknowledgements

This study received funding from the Miljøforsk-Programme on Environmental Research for a Green Transition of the Norwegian Research Council (project CATCHUP/268465). The Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study is supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services and the Ministry of Education and Research. We are grateful to all participating families in Norway who take part in this on-going cohort study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Public Health Science, LANDSAM, The Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway & Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway

    Line Marlene Nylund Sørensen

  2. Department of Public Health Science, LANDSAM, The Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Ås, Norway

    Geir Aamodt

  3. Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway

    Anne Lise Brantsæter, Helle Margrete Meltzer & Eleni Papadopoulou

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Contributions

All authors contributed in planning of the study and the analyses. LMNS and EL conducted the systematic literature review, analyzed the data and wrote the full draft of the manuscript as well as made revisions on subsequent drafts. ALB and GA contributed to the interpretation of the findings and made substantial contributions for the revision of manuscript. ALB and HMM designed the child food frequency questionnaires applied in the MoBa study. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Line Marlene Nylund Sørensen or Eleni Papadopoulou.

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Sørensen, L.M.N., Aamodt, G., Brantsæter, A.L. et al. Diet quality of Norwegian children at 3 and 7 years: changes, predictors and longitudinal association with weight. Int J Obes 46, 10–20 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-021-00951-x

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