Objective: To become familiar with current scientific literature on a variety of nutrition topics and to gain experience in gathering, organizing, critically evaluating, presenting and facilitating group discussion of the literature and the implications to practice.
Why did the BMI differ among beverage clusters only for the 6-11 year old group? Why wouldn’t the 2-5 year old age group show those same variances between the beverage groups?
posted by karlie @ 2:25 PM
11 comments
11 Comments:
Younger children tend to be better at knowing when they are full or hungry and eating the appropriate amounts as a result; if they get extra calories from juice or other beverages, they may eat less at meals. Since they are so young, their parents will also have more control over their diet (in most cases) which may improve their overall diet quality and thus are more likely to have a healthy BMI.
As children age they are more influenced by external forces other than their body telling them they are full. There are advertisements now that target children; they also are now experiencing the interaction with other children who may bring ideas that the child had never heard of up until that point. It also seems that as the child gets older they become engaged in more idle activities and do not get as much activity as they did when they were a couple years younger.
I think that there are probably little differences between the age groups as far as effects but it is less able to see in the younger group. In the same way that heart disease develops over time; this problem probably starts in young children but only starts to show up more significantly in the 6-11 year old age group.
Lauren,
As you suggested as children age they are more influenced by advertising and other outside forces that influence eating behavior, what do you suggest would be good ways to combat these outside influences on children? Especially since it is almost inevitable that they will be exposed to them.
The BMI in preschool aged children was not reflective of total energy intake from each beverage pattern. This could be due to preschool aged children’s ability to self-regulate food intake and energy from both liquid and solid foods. The school aged children’s ability to self regulate has somehow decreased and thus BMI differs among beverage clusters.
Younger children are much more active and they are still growing. They are better at knowing when they are full and are able to stop themselves from overeating. Parents also tend to provide a critical role in the child's eating at the early ages and may prevent them from over consumption. When parents take an active role in their child's eating patterns, we tend to see more positive results.
The BMI difference amongst the 6-11 year olds could be reflecting the grade school influence. The older children have a certain amount of freedom when at school to decide which beverages and how much to consume. Most children do not take into account the amount of calorically sweetended beverages consumed throughout the day and the affect it has on their total caloric intake. Any extra calories are going to result in unwanted weight gain. The 2-5 year old group is still being weaned off the infant-toddler beverage consumption (as stated in the article), which could explain some of the results. Also, this was just a 24 hour food/beverage recall. Perhaps, the 2-5 year olds did not show a BMI difference because the children were better able to eat less at meals because they were full from the beverages consumed between meals.
Lauren-
I agree that as children become older, they tend to become less active and instead more involved with more idle activities such as video games, TV, computer activities, and even reading. You also make a good point that they could be more affected by advertisements than younger children.
Annie,
You brought up a great perspective about elevated BMI's developing over time rather than resulting from developing different behavior patterns at different age ranges. I had never thought about this issue at that angle.
In response to your question to me about combating external forces, I believe this is where the parents come in. Just as eduation on the dangers of drugs/smoking/alcohol mostly come from the home and the morals their parents enstill in their children, I think good heathly food/exercise habits are arrived at in much the same way. If parents practice a healthy lifestyle and educate their kids on what foods should be consumed in moderation then that child will have a healthier relationship with food than those who only have peers/advertisements, etc to base their education on.
I believe that the younger ages would not show as much variances because they are still growing more rapidly than the older aged group. Because of this, the child body could allow itself to have more calories differientials per day, but use the excess calories towards growing and developing all the body components. When the growth process slows, the extra calories in the diet through beverages could be more significant and add excess weight since their bodies are not using them as quickly. Also, younger children always seem to want to be on the go. As the child tends to get older, they have an increased desire to watch TV/movies and play on videogames. Younger child have a shorter attention span, so these idle activities tend to get old quickly and they then move to the next entertaining activity.
Lauren,
I think you bring up a great point in regards to advertising and the older children. I believe that older children become more observant towards commercials and such to learn about the "new" products that they will want. When they see new drinks/food products, they act the same way as if it is a toy...asking their parents to buy it for them. Those parents that do buy them the products then probably think that it is okay for them to have the extra calories because they are more active. This is not always the case and as you point out, this could be the difference in the variances between BMI with the older children.
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