Are Latino Preschool Children Meeting Recommendations Related To The 5-2-1-0 Message?

Abstract

PURPOSE: Almost 17% of Latino preschool children are obese, which is far higher than their racial/ethnic counterparts. To address the key behaviors associated with childhood obesity, the 5-2-1-0 message was developed (>= 5 servings of fruits and vegtables [F/V], <= 2 hours of recreational screen time, >= 1 hour of physical activity [PA], and zero sugary drinks per day). In this study, we examined baseline data from ANDALE Pittsburgh, a culturally-tailored obesity prevention program, to determine whether or not Latino preschool children were meeting recommendations from the 5-2-1-0 message. METHODS: N=51 parents (33.5±6.1 years) with preschool-aged children (3.5±1.2 years, 59% female) were recruited from community venues in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Screen time (parent survey; n=51), F/V and sugary beverage consumption (food screener; n=51), and PA (accelerometry; n=22) were assessed. For analysis, we used PA guidelines from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendations for preschool children (>= 15 min/hour of total daily physical activity). Sociodemographic and home factors related to the 5-2-1-0 message were assessed via parent survey. A trained researcher measured child height and weight to calculate body mass index and percentiles. We calculated descriptive statistics [mean (SD) and frequencies (n)] in SPSS version 25.0. RESULTS:Most parents were Mexican (63%), stay-at-home caregivers (71%), completed high school or less (55%), and had low acculturation (86%). On average, children consumed 2.25± 1.44 servings/day of F/V, consumed 15.5± 26 kcals/day from sugary drinks, accumulated 12.9± 2.9 min/hr of total PA, watched 98.7± 74.2 min/day of screen time, and 46% were overweight or obese. Only 6% of children met the F/V recommendation, 54% met screen time recommendations, 27% met the IOM PA recommendations, and 58% met the sugary drinks guideline. CONCLUSIONS: In this community sample of Latino preschool children, nearly half were overweight/obese and few were meeting recommendations from the 5-2-1-0 message; this suggests our sample is comparable or worse off than the general U.S. preschool population for these key behaviors. Efforts are needed to effectively intervene and improve 5-2-1-0 behaviors associated with excessive weight gain in Latino preschool children.