Abstract
Public health guidelines advise eating regular meals without defining “regular.” This study constructed a meaning for “regular” meals congruent with dietary quality. Parents of 4th grade youth in a school-based intervention (Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02491294) completed three, ASA24 online 24-h dietary recalls. Differences in time of intake across days for breakfasts, lunches, dinners were categorized with consistency denoted as always, often/sometimes or rarely/never and assigned values of 3, 2 or 1, respectively. Meal-specific values were summed to form mealtime regularity scores (mReg) ranging from 3 (low) to 9. Healthy eating index (HEI) scores were compared to mReg controlling for weekday/weekend recall pattern. Linear regression predicted HEI scores from mReg. Parents (n = 142) were non-Hispanic white (92%), female (88%) and educated (73%). One mReg version, mReg1 was significantly associated with total HEI, total fruit, whole fruit, tended to correlate with total protein, seafood/plant protein subcomponents. mReg1 predicted total HEI (p = 0.001) and was inversely related to BMI (p = 0.04). A score of three (always) was awarded to breakfasts, lunches or dinners with day-to-day differences of 0–60 min; also, lunches/dinners with one interval of 60–120 min when two meals were ≤60 min apart. More rigid mReg versions were not associated with dietary quality.
Highlights
The value placed on eating regular meals is evidenced in population health, dietary guidance and inclusion in scientific research
This project was a secondary analysis using parent dietary records that were a component of a cluster randomized study of the impact of a culinary and physical intervention, Fuel for Fun (FFF), delivered during the year their child was in 4th grade [27]
The primary study included data collection at up to 4 time points, the only dietary records included for this study were those for the first time dietary data were collected. This was either at baseline or, if dietary records were not completed during the time their child was in FFF, it was from a dietary assessment completed at the time of the longitudinal follow-up
Summary
The value placed on eating regular meals is evidenced in population health, dietary guidance and inclusion in scientific research. Nutrients 2020, 12, 2667 variation to breakfast skipping [19] and the modulation of meal frequencies on SNPs associated with obesity risk [20] add credence to focus on regular meals. These relationships have been promulgated by nutritionists without a standard definition of “regular meals.”. Asking how often meals are consumed regularly (with options of never, occasionally, often or always) [12] Another definition applied to a regular meal for children, was eating a meal on every school day; a regular meal pattern was usually eating breakfast, school lunch and dinner on each school day [6]. The American Heart Association suggests letting participants distinguish between meals and snacks to accommodate social norms and cultures, but that researchers define meals as providing ≥15% of total energy intake and snacks less than that with at least 15 min between separate eating occasions [11]
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