Estimation of fish intake in Asian and white female adolescents, and association with 2-year changes in body fatness and body fat distribution: the female adolescent maturation study.

BACKGROUND

Fish is an important source of long-chain n-3 fatty acids in the diets of female adolescents, which may affect adipose tissue deposition.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to evaluate fish intake in Asian and white female adolescents, and to determine whether fish intake was associated with changes in body fatness and body fat distribution in this population.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional analysis of fish intake using 3-day food records (n=200), and a prospective analysis of baseline fish intake on anthropometric measurements 2 years later was conducted (n=103).

PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: Participants included female adolescents (aged 9 to 14 years) who were recruited from the Kaiser Permanente Oahu membership database in 2000-2001 as part of the Female Adolescent Maturation study (N=349).

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Fish intake and the proportion of participants eating 8 oz fish per week was compared between Asian, white, and mixed Asian/white ethnic groups using Kruskal-Wallis test, Wilcoxon rank sum test, and χ(2) test, respectively. The effect of fish intake on anthropometric measurements was assessed using Spearman's rank correlation coefficient and linear regression analyses, adjusting for demographic, pubertal, anthropometric, activity, and dietary parameters.

RESULTS

Asians consumed more fish (0.85 oz/wk [range=0.00 to 4.74 oz/wk]) than whites (0.00 oz/wk [0.00 to 0.40 oz/wk]; P=0.0001), and were more likely to eat 8 oz fish per week (13 of 68 vs 2 of 51, respectively; P=0.014). Greater fish intake corresponded to smaller changes in waist circumference when controlling for age, ethnicity, puberty, activity, energy intake, and baseline waist circumference (P=0.026), but not after adjusting for parental and additional dietary parameters (P>0.10).

CONCLUSIONS

Most female adolescents did not consume the recommended amount of fish, a problem that was more common in whites than Asians. The protective effect of fish intake on abdominal obesity warrants further study.