Are dietary patterns stable throughout early and mid-childhood? A birth cohort study
Open Access
- 1 November 2008
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in British Journal of Nutrition
- Vol. 100 (5), 1069-1076
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007114508968264
Abstract
This study assesses the stability of dietary patterns obtained using principal components analysis (PCA) through early to mid-childhood. Dietary data were collected from children in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Pregnancy and Childhood (ALSPAC). Frequency of consumption of a range of food items was recorded by mothers using self-completion postal questionnaires when their children were 3, 4, 7 and 9 years of age. Dietary patterns were identified using PCA and component scores were calculated at each time-point. In total 6177 children had data available at all four time-points. Three patterns were consistently seen across time: the ‘processed’, ‘traditional’ and ‘health conscious’ patterns. At 3 years an additional ‘snack’ pattern was obtained and at 9 years the ‘health conscious’ pattern was slightly modified (meat products were negatively associated). High correlations were evident for all three scores between each pair of time-points. The widest limits of agreement were seen for all pairings between the 3 and 9 years data, whilst the narrowest were seen between the 4 and 7 years data. A reasonable level of agreement was seen with the categorised component scores from each time-point of data (κ ranging from 0·28 to 0·47). Virtually identical dietary patterns were obtained at the ages of 4 and 7; however, periods of change were apparent between the ages of 3 and 4 and the ages of 7 and 9. It is important to make regular dietary assessments during childhood in order to assess accurately the effects of diet on future health outcomes.Keywords
This publication has 26 references indexed in Scilit:
- A comparison of methods to assess changes in dietary patterns from pregnancy to 4 years post-partum obtained using principal components analysisBritish Journal of Nutrition, 2008
- Changes in food group consumption patterns from childhood to young adulthood: The Bogalusa Heart StudyJournal of the American Dietetic Association, 2004
- ALSPAC–The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and ChildrenPaediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, 2001
- Multivariate analysis of diet among three-year-old children and associations with socio-demographic characteristicsEuropean Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2000
- Diet during pregnancy in a population of pregnant women in South West EnglandEuropean Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1998
- Longitudinal dietary changes between 1984–5 and 1991–2 in British adults: associations with socio-demographic, lifestyle and health factorsBritish Journal of Nutrition, 1997
- Tracking of serum lipids and dietary energy, fat and calcium intake from 1 to 15 yearsActa Paediatrica, 1995
- STATISTICAL METHODS FOR ASSESSING AGREEMENT BETWEEN TWO METHODS OF CLINICAL MEASUREMENTThe Lancet, 1986
- Weighted kappa: Nominal scale agreement provision for scaled disagreement or partial credit.Psychological Bulletin, 1968
- The Scree Test For The Number Of FactorsMultivariate Behavioral Research, 1966