Abstract
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 χ2 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.
Keywords
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Biography
D. E. St-Jules is a doctoral degree graduate in nutrition, Department of Human Nutrition, Food, and Animal Science, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu.
Biography
C. A. Watters is a certified nutrition support clinician and an assistant professor, Department of Human Nutrition, Food, and Animal Science, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu.
Biography
R. Novotny is a professor, Department of Human Nutrition, Food, and Animal Science, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu.
Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 29, 2013
Accepted:
July 22,
2013
Footnotes
STATEMENT OF POTENTIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST C. A. Watters received a grant previously from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. No potential conflict of interest was reported by the other authors.
FUNDING/SUPPORT The Female Adolescent Maturation study was supported by US Department of Agriculture grant no. 9900700.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
