Abstract
PurposeTo analyse the association between intake of total dairy (TD) and types of dairy [liquid dairy (LD), solid dairy (SD), low-fat dairy (LFD), high-fat dairy (HFD), high sugar dairy (HSD), low-sugar dairy (LSD), not fermented dairy (NFD), as well as fermented dairy (FD)] and long-term changes in body weight status and composition among children and adolescents in Germany.MethodsIn total, 9999 3-day dietary records collected between 1985 and 2019 by 1126 participants (3.5–18.5 years; boys: 50.8%) of the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) study were analysed. Polynomial mixed-effects regression models were used to examine whether changes (median follow-up: 9 years) in the intake of TD and dairy types (in 100 g/1000 kcal total energy intake) were associated with changes in body-mass-index-standard-deviation-score (BMI-SDS); fat mass index (FMI); fat-free mass index (FFMI) over time.ResultsAn individual increase in TD intake was slightly but significantly associated with an increase in BMI-SDS (β = 0.0092; p = 0.0371), FMI (β = 0.022; p = 0.0162), and FFMI (β = 0.0156; p = 0.0417) after adjustment for potential confounder. Analyses for LD (BMI-SDS: β = 0.0139; p = 0.0052; FMI: β = 0.0258; p = 0.0125; FFMI: β = 0.0239; p = 0.0052) and LSD intake (BMI-SDS: β = 0.0132; p = 0.0041, FMI: β = 0.02; p = 0.0316, FFMI: β = 0.0183; p = 0.0189) showed similar results to TD. Both processing method and fat content showed no association with body composition in our analyses.ConclusionIncreases in TD, LD, and LSD intake showed small but significant increases in BMI and concomitant increases in fat mass and lean mass. However, the observed changes were too small to expect biological or physiological meaningful effects. Overall, our results showed that policies to promote dairy intake in childhood are to be welcomed, as no negative effects on body composition are expected, while the intake of important nutrients for growth is ensured. The type of dairy does not seem to matter.
Highlights
The high prevalence of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence represents a global health problem
The associations between dairy intake: total dairy (TD), liquid dairy (LD), solid dairy (SD), not fermented dairy (NFD), fermented dairy (FD), low-fat dairy (LFD), high-fat dairy (HFD), high sugar dairy (HSD), and low-sugar dairy (LSD), respectively, and the respective outcome variables BMI-SDS, fat mass index (FMI), and fat-free mass index (FFMI) were calculated in separate models
Related to the median baseline measures in body composition, the observed association would correspond to a 10.2% increase in BMI-SDS, a 0.9% increase in FMI, and a 0.1% increase in FFMI
Summary
The high prevalence of overweight and obesity in childhood and adolescence represents a global health problem. A systematic review [11] concluded that full-fat dairy products were not associated with increased weight gain or obesity in children A meta-analysis [12] in adults could not find significant results between the intake of full-fat dairy products and low-fat dairy products on changes in body weight per serving. Due to the lack of knowledge as well as a limited number of studies during growth from childhood to adolescence, the aim of the present analyses was to investigate the prospective association between intake of total dairy and dairy types with changes in body composition among German children and adolescents. Polynomial mixed-effects regression models (PROC MIXED procedure in SAS), including both fixed and random statements, were used to analyse the association between individual change in dairy intake and concomitant change in body weight status. This calculation resulted in a total of 794 (7.9%) underreported records
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