Youths' Weight and Eating Patterns Fall Short of Healthy People 2010 Objectives

The Healthy People 2010 Objectives aim to increase quality and years of healthy life, and eliminate health disparities among people in the United States. The gaps between current weights and eating patterns of U.S. adolescents and the goals set out by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in the Objectives will be challenging to bridge over the next 7 years. In a recently published paper, researchers at the University of Minnesota uncover just how large these gaps are.

With funding from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau (MCHB) of HHS, researchers collected data from 4,746 middle and high school students in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

Participants were divided equally by sex, with a mean age of about 15 years. Almost half of participants were white, 19 percent were African American, 19 percent Asian American, 6 percent Hispanic, 4 percent American Indian, and 4 percent were of mixed backgrounds or classified themselves as “other.”
Trained staff measured heights and weights.

Researchers assessed eating patterns with the Youth and Adolescent Food Frequency Questionnaire. Students self-reported sex, school level, race/ethnicity, and socio-economic status (SES); SES was based on level of parental education.

The results reveal several patterns.

Overweight

Significantly more boys than girls had body mass index (BMI) values at or greater than the 95th percentile. Among boys, American Indians had the highest levels of overweight, followed by Hispanics. Among girls, African Americans had the highest levels, followed by American Indians.

The highest levels of overweight girls were seen in middle- and low-middle SES groups. Among boys, those of low SES were almost twice as likely to be overweight as boys of high SES.

Dietary Fat

More girls than boys met dietary recommendations to eat 30 percent or fewer calories from fat, and girls in high school ate less fat than younger girls. African American youths were the least likely to meet dietary fat recommendations. More boys and girls of low SES ate over 30 percent of calories from fat than youths of higher SES.

Calcium

Girls’ calcium intake dropped between middle school and high school. Calcium intake was lowest among Asian American boys and girls. Girls and boys of lower SES were less likely to consume adequate calcium than youth of higher SES.

Fruits, Vegetables, and Grains

Fruit and vegetable intake decreased between middle and high school for all youths. Boys and girls of high SES ate more fruits and vegetables than those of lower SES, and were most likely to eat six or more servings of grains per day.

Future Directions

The authors suggest that policy makers and others consider racial/ethnic, SES, and gender differences when developing interventions to help adolescents move toward the Healthy People 2010 goals. For example, they point out that social and environmental factors likely contribute to increased risk for overweight, and argue the need to develop interventions acknowledging differences in financial resources as well as cultural norms, such as acceptable sources of calcium for Asian Americans.

Likewise, differences in eating patterns between sexes reveal that different factors influence boys and girls. Changes in eating patterns between middle and high school were greater for girls than boys. High school girls consumed less fat, calcium, and grains, likely due to increased dieting among this group.

The full report can be found in the May 2002 issue of the American Journal of Public Health. s