title: Dietary patterns related to attainment in school: the importance of early eating patterns.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To empirically test the impact of dietary intake at several time points in childhood on children's school attainment and to investigate whether any differences in school attainment between children who ate packed lunches or school meals was due to who these children were, their pre-school dietary patterns, or to what they ate at school.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using longitudinal data available in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), multivariate linear regression was used to assess the relative importance of diet at different ages for school attainment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three indicators of school attainment were used: at ages 4-5 entry assessments to school, at ages 6-7 Key Stage 1 national tests and at ages 10-11 Key Stage 2 national tests. These outcome variables were measured in levels as well as in changes from the previous educational stage.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The key finding at age 3 was that "junk food" dietary pattern had a negative association with the level of school attainment. A weak association remained after controlling for the impact of other dietary patterns at age 3, dietary patterns at ages 4 and 7 and other confounding factors. The authors did not find evidence that eating packed lunches or eating school meals affected children's attainment, once the impact of junk food dietary pattern at age 3 was accounted for in the model.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Early eating patterns have implications for attainment that appear to persist over time, regardless of subsequent changes in diet.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Education, University of London, London, UK.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Feinstein
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sabates
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sorhaindo
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Herrick
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Northstone
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Emmett
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology*; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D004032:Diet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004522:Educational Status; D004812:Epidemiologic Methods; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D012574:Schools; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors