Abstract
Objective
The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship of child-feeding practices
and other factors to overweight in low-income Mexican-American preschool-aged children.
Design
Cross-sectional survey with anthropometric measurements of mothers and target children.
Trained bilingual staff interviewed the parents to collect data on child-feeding strategies,
food patterns, child’s health history, parental acculturation level, food insecurity,
and other household characteristics.
Subjects and setting
Complete data were available from 204 low-income Mexican-American parents residing
in California with at least one child aged 3 to 5 years.
Outcomes measured
Risk of overweight was defined as body mass index (BMI) (measured as weight [in kilograms]/height
[in meters]2) ≥85th percentile and overweight was defined as BMI ≥95th percentile. The Student
t test, χ2 test, and logistic regression were used.
Results
Three variables were positively related to risk of overweight: birth weight (odds
ratio [OR], 2.31; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.11 to 4.82), mother’s BMI ≥30 (OR,
2.05; 95% CI, 1.11 to 3.79), and juice intake (OR, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.09 to 4.98). Being
enrolled in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children
was negatively related to risk of overweight (OR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.21 to 0.75). Additional
variables related to overweight were monthly income >$1,500 (OR, 2.33; 95% CI, 1.00
to 5.42) and child takes food from the refrigerator between meals (OR, 0.32; 95% CI,
0.13 to 0.76).
Conclusions
The results of this study suggest that biological and socioeconomic factors are more
associated with overweight in Mexican-American preschool-aged children than most of
the self-reported child-feeding strategies.
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Biography
H. R. Melgar-Quiñonez is assistant professor, Department of Human Nutrition, Ohio State University, Columbus; at the time of the study, he was with the Department of Nutrition, University of California at Davis.
Biography
L. L. Kaiser is cooperative extension specialist, Department of Nutrition, University of California at Davis.
Article info
Identification
Copyright
© 2004 American Dietetic Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
