Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Pediatrics and Parenting
Date Submitted: Mar 11, 2021
Date Accepted: Aug 17, 2021
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Consumption of ultra-processed foods in adolescents with obesity and its association with food educational style of their parent: observational study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Eating habits and the parental educational model are both contributors to the development of childhood obesity.
Objective:
We aimed to assess the consumption of ultra-processed foods (UPF) in adolescents with obesity and to determine the association with the food educational style of their parent.
Methods:
This observational study included 24 participants: 12 adolescents aged from 12 to 14 years and their 12 parents who were followed in a specialized pediatric obesity clinic. Adolescents were asked to take a photograph with a smartphone application of all meals and beverages consumed in their daily routine over 14 consecutive days. They evaluated their parent’s food educational style using the Kids’ Child Feeding Questionnaire. The parent who was present at the study visits also completed the Feeding Style Questionnaire. A dietitian analyzed the pictures to extract food group portions and to identify UPF using the NOVA classification. A non-parametric statistical test was used to investigate associations between UPF intake and food educational style.
Results:
Overall, the adolescents (eight boys and four girls) had unbalanced dietary habits compared to national recommendations. They consumed an insufficient quantity of vegetables, fruits, dairy products, and starchy foods and an excessive amount of meat portions, and sugary and fatty products compared to the current Swiss recommendations. Their consumption of UPF accounted for 20% of their food intake. All teenagers defined their parent as being restrictive in terms of diet, with a mean parental restriction score of 3.3 ± standard deviation 0.4 (norm median = 2.1). No parent reported a permissive educational feeding style. A higher intake of UPF was associated with lower parental restriction scores (p = 0.04).
Conclusions:
Despite being followed in a specialized pediatric obesity clinic, these adolescents had an unbalanced diet, which included 20% UPF. The intake of UPF was lower in participants whose parent was more restrictive, suggesting the importance of parents as role models and to provide adequate food at home. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.org registry no. NCT03241121
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