↓ Skip to main content

A comparison of snack serving sizes to USDA guidelines in healthy weight and overweight minority preschool children enrolled in Head Start

Overview of attention for article published in BMC Obesity, August 2016
Altmetric Badge

About this Attention Score

  • Average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (57th percentile)

Mentioned by

twitter
5 X users
facebook
1 Facebook page

Citations

dimensions_citation
4 Dimensions

Readers on

mendeley
41 Mendeley
You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output. Click here to find out more.
Title
A comparison of snack serving sizes to USDA guidelines in healthy weight and overweight minority preschool children enrolled in Head Start
Published in
BMC Obesity, August 2016
DOI 10.1186/s40608-016-0116-2
Pubmed ID
Authors

Andrea Charvet, Kathryn Brogan Hartlieb, Yulyu Yeh, K.-L. Catherine Jen

Abstract

Obesity disproportionately affects children from low-income families and those from racial and ethnic minorities. The relationship between snacking and weight status remains unclear, although snacking is known to be an important eating episode for energy and nutrient intake particularly in young children. The purpose of this pilot study was to examine the snack intake of minority preschool children enrolled in the Head Start Program in four centers in Detroit, Michigan, and investigate differences by child weight status. This secondary data analysis used snack time food observation and anthropometric data from a convenience sample of 55 African American children (44 % girls, mean age = 3.8 years). Snack intake data was obtained over a mean of 5 days through direct observation of children by dietetic interns, and later converted into food group servings according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) meal patterns and averaged for each child. Height and weight measurements were systematically collected and BMI-for-age percentiles were used to classify children into weight categories. One sample, paired samples and independent samples t-tests were performed to test for differences within and between means. Based on BMI-for-age percentiles, 72.7 % of the sample was under/healthy weight and 27.3 % was overweight/obese. Average (mean ± SD) intake of milk (0.76 ± 0.34) and overall fruits/vegetables (0.77 ± 0.34) was significantly lower than one USDA serving, while average intake of grains and breads (2.04 ± 0.89), meat/meat alternates (2.20 ± 1.89) and other foods (1.43 ± 1.08) was significantly higher than one USDA serving (p ≤ 0.05). Children ate more when offered canned versus fresh fruits (0.93 ± 0.57 vs. 0.65 ± 0.37, p = 0.007). Except for a significantly higher milk intake in the overweight/obese group compared to the under/healthy weight group (0.86 ± 0.48 vs. 0.72 ± 0.27, p = 0.021], no relationship was found between snack food intake and weight category. Only in the overweight/obese group was the intake of milk and fresh fruits not significantly different than one USDA serving. Findings suggest that regardless of weight status low-income minority preschool children are consuming larger serving sizes when offered less healthy versus healthier snack foods. Continued efforts should be made to provide healthful snack foods at preschool settings to prevent obesity and promote healthier food habits.

X Demographics

X Demographics

The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 5 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 41 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 41 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 8 20%
Student > Master 8 20%
Student > Bachelor 4 10%
Student > Doctoral Student 3 7%
Lecturer 2 5%
Other 3 7%
Unknown 13 32%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Nursing and Health Professions 8 20%
Medicine and Dentistry 7 17%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 4 10%
Engineering 2 5%
Computer Science 1 2%
Other 6 15%
Unknown 13 32%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 07 January 2018.
All research outputs
#13,566,023
of 23,881,329 outputs
Outputs from BMC Obesity
#98
of 179 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#176,132
of 341,860 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BMC Obesity
#4
of 7 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,881,329 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 42nd percentile – i.e., 42% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 179 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 15.5. This one is in the 47th percentile – i.e., 47% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 341,860 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 47th percentile – i.e., 47% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 7 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than 3 of them.