National Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Øster Farimagsgade 5, 1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act. 2012 Feb 6;9:9. doi: 10.1186/1479-5868-9-9.
Frequency of eating breakfast, lunch and evening meal as a determinant of fruit and vegetable intake among young people is little studied. We investigated whether irregular meal consumption was associated with fruit and vegetable intake among adolescents. We used separate analyses, and special emphasis was on the potentially modifying effect of sex and age.
Data were from the Danish contribution to the international collaborative Health Behavior in School-Aged Children Study (HBSC) in 2002. We used a questionnaire-based, cross-sectional design to study schoolchildren aged 11, 13 and 15 years (n = 3913) selected from a random sample of schools in Denmark. Fruit intake and vegetable intake were measured by a food frequency questionnaire and analyses were conducted using multivariate logistic regression.
Overall, statistically significant associations were found between irregular breakfast, lunch and evening meal consumption and low frequency of fruit intake and vegetable intake (breakfast: fruit OR = 1.42, vegetables OR = 1.48; lunch: fruit OR = 1.68, vegetables OR = 1.83; evening meal: vegetables OR = 1.70). No association was found for irregular evening meal consumption and low frequency of fruit intake. Analyses stratified by sex showed that the associations between irregular breakfast consumption and both fruit and vegetable intake remained statistically significant only among girls. When analyses were stratified by both sex and age, different patterns appeared. Overall, skipping meals seemed to be a less serious risk factor for low frequency of fruit and vegetable intake among younger participants compared with those who were older. This was especially evident for skipping breakfast. The same tendency was also seen for skipping lunch and evening meal, although the age pattern varied between boys and girls and between fruit and vegetable intake.
Our results showed that irregular breakfast, lunch and evening meal consumption among adolescents was associated with a low frequency of fruit and vegetable intake and that sex and age may play a modifying role. The different associations observed in different age and sex groups indicate the importance of analysing fruit and vegetable intake and meal types separately. The results highlight the importance of promoting regular meal consumption when trying to increase the intake of fruit and vegetables among adolescents.
早餐、午餐和晚餐的进食频率是年轻人摄入水果和蔬菜的决定因素之一，但这方面的研究还很少。我们调查了青少年不规则的进食习惯是否与水果和蔬菜的摄入量有关。我们进行了单独的分析，并特别强调了性别和年龄的潜在调节作用。
数据来自于丹麦对国际合作的青少年健康行为研究（HBSC）2002 年的贡献。我们采用基于问卷的横断面设计，研究了来自丹麦随机学校样本的 11、13 和 15 岁的学生（n=3913）。水果摄入量和蔬菜摄入量通过食物频率问卷进行测量，分析采用多变量逻辑回归。
总体而言，不规则的早餐、午餐和晚餐与水果和蔬菜摄入频率较低之间存在统计学显著关联（早餐：水果 OR=1.42，蔬菜 OR=1.48；午餐：水果 OR=1.68，蔬菜 OR=1.83；晚餐：蔬菜 OR=1.70）。不规则晚餐与水果摄入频率较低之间没有关联。按性别分层分析显示，仅在女孩中，不规则早餐与水果和蔬菜摄入之间的关联仍具有统计学意义。当按性别和年龄分层分析时，出现了不同的模式。总体而言，与年龄较大的参与者相比，年轻参与者不规律地进食似乎是水果和蔬菜摄入频率较低的一个不太严重的危险因素。这在不吃早餐的情况下尤为明显。这种趋势也适用于不吃午餐和晚餐，但男孩和女孩以及水果和蔬菜摄入之间的年龄模式有所不同。
我们的结果表明，青少年不规则的早餐、午餐和晚餐与水果和蔬菜摄入频率较低有关，性别和年龄可能起调节作用。在不同年龄和性别组中观察到的不同关联表明，分析水果和蔬菜摄入与进餐类型分别进行的重要性。研究结果强调了在试图增加青少年水果和蔬菜摄入量时促进规律进食的重要性。
