Dietary Intake Quality Improvements after Participation in a Multi-Disciplinary Pediatric Weight Management Program

Abstract

Pediatric obesity has become an epidemic in the United States, with incidence tripling in adolescents over 30 years. Poor diet quality with inadequate fruit and vegetable intake and excessive intake of sugar sweetened beverages has been linked to obesity. We report on diet quality before and after participation in a comprehensive weight management program for children aged 2-17 years. Demographics of the patient population reflect the demographics of the catchment area, a large city in the Northeastern U.S. Ethnic breakdown of participants is 69% African American, 20% Caucasian, 6% Hispanic, 5% Bi-racial or “other”, <1% Asian. Baseline participants’mean age is 12.05 years +/3.05 (N1⁄4359). After completing medical and psychological screenings, children and parents enroll in education sessions on nutrition, behavior modification, and exercise. Patients complete a dietary intake questionnaire baseline and six months after program initiation to evaluate diet intake. Several statistically significant improvements were observed in diet quality at 6 months. Changes included increased number of vegetables eaten in the past 7 days (6.33 +/3.74 baseline to 8.04 +/3.59 at 6 months, p1⁄40.033, N1⁄424), decreased intake of sugar sweetened beverages (includes soft drink, sweet tea, Koolaid, lemonade, not diet) in the past 7 days (2.00 +/1.81 baseline to 1.17 +/1.27 at 6 months, p1⁄40.036, N1⁄423) and fast food intake which decreased from mean of 1.18 +/1.26 to 0.66 +/0.66 times in the past 7 days (p 1⁄40.030, N1⁄422). These improvements demonstrate significant improvements in diet quality in this population.