title: Rate of eating in early life is positively associated with current and later body mass index among young Japanese children: the Osaka Maternal and Child Health Study.
abstract: The possible effect of eating rate on promoting obesity has attracted considerable attention among various age groups, but little is known about these associations in an early stage of life. We investigated the hypothesis that eating rate in early childhood influences current and later body mass index (BMI) among young Japanese children. The study participants were 492 Japanese mother-child pairs from a prospective birth cohort study. Information on rate of eating (slow, medium, or fast), macronutrient intake (protein, fat, and carbohydrate), and dietary fiber intake were collected from the mothers using a diet history questionnaire when the children were aged 29 to 39 months. Height and weight as measured at 30 and 42 months of age were used to calculate BMI at each age. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed to examine the relationships between eating rate in early childhood and BMI at 30 and 42 months. There were strong positive associations between eating rate and BMI at 30 and 42 months of age that were robust to adjustment for confounders including maternal BMI, socioeconomic status, health behaviors, and child's nutrient intake. In comparison with children in the "slow" rate of eating group, the size of the difference in BMI (95% confidence interval) at 42 months of age was 0.49 (0.17-0.80) and 0.67 (0.24-1.10) kg/m2greater among children in the "medium" and "fast" groups, respectively. In conclusion, a higher rate of eating in early childhood was positively associated with not only current BMI but also BMI measured 1 year later in young Japanese children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Promotion, National Institute of Public Health, Saitama, Japan. Electronic address: okubo@niph.go.jp.
authors.forename: Hitomi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okubo
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Ehime, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Miyake
authors.affiliation: Department of Social and Preventive Epidemiology, School of Public Health, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sasaki
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Ehime University Graduate School of Medicine, Ehime, Japan.
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: College of Healthcare Management, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hirota
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D000067576:Child Health; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004435:Eating; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007564:Japan; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D063766:Pediatric Obesity / Q000209:etiology*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: BMI; Diet; Prospective birth cohort; Rate of eating; Young Japanese children