Soda consumption and overweight status of 2-year-old mexican-american children in california.
OBJECTIVE
The prevalence of overweight in United States children, 2 to 5 years old, has increased 2-fold since 1975, with the highest prevalence in Mexican Americans. The objective of this study was to determine the association between current soda consumption and overweight in 2-year-old Mexican-American children.


METHODS
The Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas study is a longitudinal study of the health of low-income Latino pregnant women and their children living in the Salinas Valley, CA. Six hundred pregnant women were enrolled (October 1999 to October 2000), and their children were followed until 2 years of age. This cross-sectional analysis includes the 354 children who completed the 2-year follow-up interview. Standing height (centimeters) and weight (grams) were measured at 2 years. Overweight was defined as > or =95th percentile of the sex-specific BMI for each child's age.


RESULTS
Fifty-five (15.5%) children were overweight. Over half (56%) reported consuming any soda in the last week. After covariate adjustment, compared with no soda consumption, <1 soda/d was not related to overweight (adjusted odds ratio, 0.97; 95% confidence interval, 0.47, 1.99), but > or =1 soda/d was significantly associated with overweight (adjusted odds ratio, 3.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.43, 8.07), and the test for trend was significant (p = 0.02).


CONCLUSIONS
At 2 years of age, the prevalence of overweight among the Center for the Health Assessment of Mothers and Children of Salinas cohort is higher than the national prevalence estimate for Mexican-American 2- to 5-year-old children and is significantly associated with current soda consumption. Interventions to reduce consumption of soda in young Mexican-American children should be considered.
Warner
Marcella L
ML
Center for Children's Environmental Health Research, School of Public Health, University of California, 2150 Shattuck Avenue, Suite 600, Berkeley, CA 94720-7380, USA. mwarner@berkeley.edu
Harley
Kim
K
Bradman
Asa
A
Vargas
Gloria
G
Eskenazi
Brenda
B
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002140:California / Q000453:epidemiology; D002253:Carbonated Beverages / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D017058:Mexican Americans; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D050177:Overweight; D011203:Poverty; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence