Distribution of food intake as a risk factor for childhood obesity.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of our study was to assess the relationship between nutrient intake, partitioning of food intake, parents' overweight and adiposity in a group of children. SUBJECTS: 530 7-11-year-old children: 278 males, 252 females. METHODS: Energy intake, nutrient intake and percentage distribution of the intake of energy among the different meals were assessed by means of diet history. Body composition was obtained by measuring skinfold thickness. RESULTS: We identified the relationship between the children's adiposity and their parents' body mass index (BMI) mother: r = 0.12, P < 0.01; father: r = 0.13; P < 0.01), carbohydrate (r = -0.15, P < 0.001) and fat intake (r = 0.14, P < 0.002), and the proportion of energy taken at dinner (r = 0.1, P < 0.05). A multiple regression analysis was run with a stepwise procedure using relative adiposity as the dependent variable and parents' BMI, dinner intake (percentage of energy intake), EI/BMR ratio (an index of energy intake validity), and sex (dummy variable) as independent variables. All the independent variables, except percentage of fat intake, were included in the final model. The equation was able to explain approximate 19% (R = 0.44, P < 0.001) of inter-individual fat mass percentage variability. CONCLUSIONS: Diet composition did not contribute to explain the children's adiposity when the parents' overweight (BMI) was taken into account. However, the percentage distribution of the intake of energy among the different meals, particularly at dinner, contributed to explain inter-individual variance of fatness in children of both sexes.