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How energy balance-related behaviours, temperament, stress and overweight associate: a cross-sectional study of Finnish preschoolers
- Henna Vepsäläinen, Liisa Korkalo, Essi Skaffari, Anna M Abdollahi, Riikka Pajulahti, Reetta Lehto, Elina Engberg, Marja H Leppänen, Elviira Lehto, Carola Ray, Eva Roos, Maijaliisa Erkkola
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- Journal:
- Public Health Nutrition / Volume 27 / Issue 1 / 2024
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 04 March 2024, e93
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Objective:
This study aimed to (1) examine the clustering of energy balance-related behaviours (EBRB) and (2) investigate whether EBRB clusters, temperament and hair cortisol concentration (HCC) associate with overweight.
Design:We assessed food consumption using food records, screen time (ST) using sedentary behaviour diaries, sleep consistency and temperament (negative affectivity, surgency, effortful control) using questionnaires and HCC using hair samples. Accelerometers were used to assess physical activity (PA) intensities, sleep duration and sleep efficiency. Researchers measured each child’s weight and height. We used finite mixture models to identify EBRB clusters and multilevel logistic regression models to examine the associations between EBRB clusters, temperament, HCC and overweight.
Setting:The cross-sectional DAGIS survey, data collected in 2015–2016.
Participants:Finnish 3–6-year-olds (n 864) recruited through preschools.
Results:One-third of the participants were categorised into the cluster labelled ‘Unhealthy diet, excessive screen time’, characterised by unhealthy dietary choices (e.g. greater consumption of high-fat, high-sugar dairy products) and longer ST. Two-thirds were categorised into the second cluster, labelled ‘Healthy diet, moderate screen time’. PA and sleep were irrelevant for clustering. Higher negative affectivity and lower effortful control associated with the ‘Unhealthy diet, excessive screen time’ cluster. EBRB clusters and HCC did not associate with overweight, but surgency was positively associated with overweight (OR = 1·63, 95 % CI 1·17, 2·25).
Conclusions:Of the EBRB, food consumption and ST seem to associate. As temperament associates with EBRB clusters and overweight, tailored support acknowledging the child’s temperament could be profitable in maintaining a healthy weight.
Long-term stress and diet among Finnish pre-schoolers
- Henna Vepsäläinen, Hannele Sorvari, Elviira Lehto, Katri Sääksjärvi, Marja Leppänen, Mari Nislin, Kaija Nissinen, Leena Koivusilta, Carola Ray, Eira Suhonen, Nina Sajaniemi, Maijaliisa Erkkola
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- Journal:
- Proceedings of the Nutrition Society / Volume 79 / Issue OCE2 / 2020
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 10 June 2020, E154
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Introduction
Studying the link between children's stress and diet is crucial, as early childhood is an important period for the development of eating habits as well as other health behaviours. Among adults, studies have shown that elevated cortisol levels (indicator of long-term stress) might be associated with overweight and a preference for energy-dense foods. However, the association between hair cortisol concentration (HCC) and diet among pre-school-aged children is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate whether HCC, a measure of long-term stress, is associated with diet among 3–6-year-old Finnish children.
Materials and methodsThe current cross-sectional study is a part of the DAGIS study conducted in 66 Finnish pre-schools in 2015–2016. Of the 864 participating pre-schoolers, 578 (67%) provided the information needed to examine the association between HCC and diet. HCC was measured from 4-cm hair samples using a chemiluminescence immunoassay, and the HCCs were categorized into fifths. The parents of the participating children filled in a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) assessing the child's food consumption outside preschool hours. The FFQ items (n = 47) were used as inputs in principal component analysis to derive dietary patterns. The associations between HCC and food group consumption frequencies as well as dietary pattern scores for ‘sweets-and-treats’, ‘health-conscious’ and ‘vegetables-and-processed meats’ patterns were examined with multilevel linear mixed models and adjusted for age, gender and parental education.
ResultsThe median HCC was 11.7 pg/mg (min 0.24, max 879.6). Compared to the children who had the lowest HCCs, the children with the highest HCCs consumed vegetables as well as fruits and berries less frequently (β = -1.62, 95% CI -3.14, -0.09; β = -1.49, 95% CI -2.95, -0.04) and scored lower on the ‘health-conscious’ dietary pattern (β = -0.31, 95% CI -0.51, -0.11). After adjustments, the associations between HCC and fruit and berry and sugary beverage consumption as well as ‘health-conscious’ pattern were significant (β = -1.62, 95% CI -3.09, -0.16; β = 1.30, 95% CI 0.06, 2.54; β = -0.33, 95% CI -0.53, -0.14).
DiscussionThis study supports the link between long-term stress and lower-quality diet, as it showed that elevated HCCs and less healthful diets were connected already in the early childhood. However, because of the cross-sectional design of the study, we are not able to conclude whether stress affects diet or vice versa. Nevertheless, these results give reason to further investigate the relationship between stress and children's eating habits as well as health in general.