Institute for Innovation & Sustainable Development in Food Chain (IS-FOOD), Public University of Navarra, 31006 Pamplona, Spain.
Department of Health Sciences, Public University of Navarra, 31006 Pamplona, Spain.
Nutrients. 2021 Apr 18;13(4):1353. doi: 10.3390/nu13041353.
Dietary habits have been linked with health in childhood. However, few studies have examined the association between healthy dietary patterns and physical fitness. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the associations of adherence to the Mediterranean dietary pattern (MDP) and breakfast quality with physical fitness in children. Further to this, we examined the role of physical activity in these associations. A total of 175 children (86 girls, 9.7 ± 0.3 years) participated. Adherence to MDP and breakfast quality were assessed by the KIDMED questionnaire and 24 h recall, respectively. Cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, and speed-agility were assessed. Physical activity was evaluated by wrist-worn accelerometers. Greater adherence to the MDP was related with higher cardiorespiratory fitness, lower-limbs muscular strength, and speed-agility (all β ≥ 0.189, all ≤ 0.02). No significant associations were observed between breakfast quality and physical fitness (all > 0.05). However, all the significant associations disappeared after adjusting for physical activity (all > 0.05). Our study sheds light on the relevance of adhering to the MDP over physical fitness in school children. However, there is no association between breakfast quality and physical fitness. Furthermore, physical activity seems to explain, at least partially, these findings.
饮食习惯与儿童健康有关。然而，很少有研究探讨健康的饮食模式与身体健康之间的关系。因此，本研究旨在探讨儿童坚持地中海饮食模式（MDP）和早餐质量与身体健康之间的关系。此外，我们还研究了身体活动在这些关联中的作用。共有 175 名儿童（86 名女孩，9.7 ± 0.3 岁）参与了研究。MDP 的依从性和早餐质量分别通过 KIDMED 问卷和 24 小时回顾法进行评估。心肺功能、肌肉力量和速度敏捷性进行了评估。身体活动通过腕戴加速度计进行评估。MDP 的依从性越高，心肺功能越好，下肢肌肉力量越强，速度敏捷性越高（所有 β ≥ 0.189，所有 P ≤ 0.02）。早餐质量与身体健康之间没有显著相关性（所有 P ＞0.05）。然而，调整身体活动后，所有显著相关性均消失（所有 P ＞0.05）。我们的研究表明，在学龄儿童中，坚持 MDP 比身体健康更重要。然而，早餐质量与身体健康之间没有关联。此外，身体活动似乎至少部分解释了这些发现。
