Mother's body mass index and food intake in school-aged children:  results of the GINIplus and the LISAplus studies.
OBJECTIVE
Mother's body mass index (BMI) is a strong predictor of child BMI. Whether mother's BMI correlates with child's food intake is unclear. We investigated associations between mother's BMI/overweight and child's food intake using data from two German birth cohorts.


METHODS
Food intakes from 3230 participants were derived from parent-completed food frequency questionnaires. Intakes of 11 food groups were categorized into three levels using group- and sex-specific tertile cutoffs. Mother's BMI and overweight were calculated on the basis of questionnaire data. Multinomial regression models assessed associations between a child's food intake and mother's BMI/overweight. Linear regression models assessed associations between a child's total energy intake and mother's BMI. Models were adjusted for study region, maternal education, child's age, sex, pubertal status and energy intake and the BMIs of the child and father.


RESULTS
Mothers' BMI was associated with high meat intake in children (adjusted relative risk ratio (RRR (95% confidence interval))=1.06 (1.03; 1.09)). Mothers' overweight was associated with the meat intake (medium versus low RRR=1.30 (1.07; 1.59); high versus low RRR=1.50 (1.19; 1.89)) and egg intake (medium versus low RRR=1.24 (1.02; 1.50); high versus low RRR=1.30 (1.07; 1.60)) of children. There were no consistent associations for rest of the food groups. For every one-unit increase in mothers' BMI, the total energy intake in children increased by 9.2 kcal (3.7; 14.7). However, this effect was not significant after adjusting for children's BMI.


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that mother's BMI and mother's overweight are important correlates of a child's intake of energy, meat and eggs.
1] Institute of Epidemiology I, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany [2] Faculty of Medicine, Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
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Pei
Institute of Epidemiology I, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.
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Flexeder
1] Institute of Epidemiology I, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany [2] School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
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Fuertes
Institute of Epidemiology I, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.
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Standl
Department of Pediatrics, Marien-Hospital Wesel, Wesel, Germany.
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Berdel
Department of Pediatrics, Marien-Hospital Wesel, Wesel, Germany.
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von Berg
Division of Pediatric, Gastroenterology, and Hepatology, Dr von Hauner Children's Hospital, University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
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Koletzko
Medical Practice for Pediatrics, Bad Honnef, Germany.
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Schaaf
Institute of Epidemiology I, Helmholtz Zentrum München - German Research Center for Environmental Health, Neuherberg, Germany.
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Heinrich
D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D004032:Diet; D004435:Eating; D004531:Eggs; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008460:Meat; D009035:Mothers; D009765:Obesity; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000209:etiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires