Food patterns and lifestyle factors that correlate to growth status of 5th grade schoolchildren in Taipei, Taiwan

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of food patterns, TV-watching time, and physical activity (PA) on growth status of 5th grade schoolchildren (SC) in Taipei, Taiwan. A questionnaire elicited data on height, weight, intake frequencies of major food categories and fast-food, TV-watching time, and frequency of PA from 2290 SC. Results showed that girls were taller but lighter than boys (P<0.01). TV-watching for ≥3 h/d was positively associated with BMI and weight of SC (P<0.01). PA was not significantly associated with height, weight or BMI. Among the major food categories, frequent intake of dairy was associated with lower BMI; frequent intake of fruits was associated with greater height while frequent intake of dessert was associated with lower BMI, height, and weight (all P<0.05). Among the fast-food items, frequent intake of fried-chicken was negatively associated with BMI and weight while frequent consumption of ice cream was positively associated with height (all P<0.05). Boys consumed meat, fish, seafood, eggs, soy products, sweetened beverages, and fast-food more often than did girls, while the opposite was true for consumption of vegetables and fruits. Only 30% SC consumed dairy daily; 62% of SC consumed vegetables daily; 53% of SC consumed fruit daily. Around 18% of SC consumed fast-food >1 time/wk. These results suggest that a high proportion of the SC need to improve their eating habit and that TV-watching time and consumptions of dairy, dessert and fried chicken are the major impacting factors on SC’s growth status. Funding provided by University of Michigan.