Dai Jin, Yang Jingyun, Fan Hailing, Wu Yixin, Wu Huilan, Wang Yun, Tung Tao-Hsin, Wang Lizhen, Zhang Meixian
Department of Pediatrics, Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Taizhou Enze Medical Center (Group) Enze Hospital, Taizhou, China.
Department of Pediatrics, Taizhou Hospital of Zhejiang Province Affiliated to Wenzhou Medical University, Linhai, China.
Front Pediatr. 2023 Mar 8;11:1139743. doi: 10.3389/fped.2023.1139743. eCollection 2023.
Early childhood is a critical period for dietary education and development of good eating habits. However, few studies have investigated the effect of eating order in children and childhood obesity in real-world settings.
To examine whether the order in which meats/fish or vegetables are consumed affects the risk of obesity in preschoolers.
We conducted a population-based cross-sectional study using a self-administered online survey on the lifestyle and health behaviors of preschoolers in Taizhou, China. A total of 3,200 parents were invited to take part in the survey, and 2,049 of them completed the questionnaire. Children were classified as having a normal weight, overweight, or obesity using the definitions provided by the International Obesity Task Force, and z-scores for body mass index were calculated. We divided the children's eating order at the beginning of the meal into two groups: "vegetables before meats/fish" or "meats/fish before vegetables". We analyzed the relationship between what was consumed first at a meal and the overweight status of each child.
No difference in body mass index was observed between the children eating meats/fish-first and the children eating vegetables-first during a meal. Children with parents who were affected by obesity were more likely to eat vegetables first. Among children of mothers with obesity, body mass index was significantly higher in the meats/fish-first group than that in the vegetable-first group (2.891 vs. 0.845, = 0.007). In children whose mothers were affected by obesity, those that ate meats/fish first had a 12.21 times higher risk of being overweight compared with those that ate vegetables first (95% CI:1.22-121.74, = 0.033).
Our findings suggest eating vegetables or meats/fish at the start of a meal does not affect weight status in preschoolers.
幼儿期是饮食教育和养成良好饮食习惯的关键时期。然而，很少有研究在现实环境中调查儿童进食顺序与儿童肥胖之间的关系。
研究肉类/鱼类或蔬菜的进食顺序是否会影响学龄前儿童肥胖的风险。
我们在中国台州对学龄前儿童的生活方式和健康行为进行了一项基于人群的横断面研究，采用自行管理的在线调查。共邀请了3200名家长参与调查，其中2049名家长完成了问卷。根据国际肥胖特别工作组提供的定义，将儿童分为体重正常、超重或肥胖，并计算体重指数的z评分。我们将儿童用餐开始时的进食顺序分为两组：“蔬菜先于肉类/鱼类”或“肉类/鱼类先于蔬菜”。我们分析了每餐首先食用的食物与每个儿童超重状况之间的关系。
用餐时先吃肉类/鱼类的儿童和先吃蔬菜的儿童之间，体重指数没有差异。父母受肥胖影响的儿童更有可能先吃蔬菜。在母亲患有肥胖症的儿童中，先吃肉类/鱼类组的体重指数显著高于先吃蔬菜组（2.891对0.845，P = 0.007）。在母亲受肥胖影响的儿童中，先吃肉类/鱼类的儿童超重风险是先吃蔬菜的儿童的12.21倍（95%可信区间：1.22 - 121.74，P = 0.033）。
我们的研究结果表明，用餐开始时吃蔬菜或肉类/鱼类不会影响学龄前儿童的体重状况。
