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Associations Between Eating Speed, Diet Quality, Adiposity, and Cardiometabolic Risk Factors
Tany E Garcidueñas-Fimbres1, Indira Paz-Graniel1, Carlos Gómez-Martínez1
1Consorcio CIBER. Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y Nutrición, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain; Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Departament de Bioquímica i Biotecnologia, Unitat de Nutrició Humana, Reus, Spain; Institut d'Investigació Sanitària Pere Virgili, Reus, Spain.
Insights
Fast eating in preschool children is linked to increased obesity and poorer health indicators. This eating behavior is also associated with lower adherence to the Mediterranean diet, highlighting potential health risks.
Area of Science:
- Pediatrics
- Nutritional Science
- Public Health
Background:
- Childhood obesity is a growing public health concern.
- Eating behaviors, such as eating speed, may influence adiposity and cardiometabolic health in children.
- Understanding these associations can inform early intervention strategies.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between eating speed and indicators of adiposity.
- To examine the association between eating speed and cardiometabolic risk factors in preschool children.
- To assess the link between eating speed and diet quality, specifically adherence to the Mediterranean diet.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study was conducted on 956 Spanish preschool children from the CORALS cohort.
- Eating speed was categorized as slow, moderate, or fast based on time taken for main meals.
- Regression models were used to analyze associations between eating speed and body mass index, waist circumference, fat mass index, blood pressure, glucose, lipid profile, and Mediterranean diet adherence.
Main Results:
- Fast eaters exhibited a significantly higher risk of overweight/obesity compared to slow eaters (OR, 2.9).
- Fast eating was associated with increased waist circumference, fat mass index, systolic blood pressure, and fasting plasma glucose levels.
- Children who ate faster showed lower adherence to the Mediterranean diet.
Conclusions:
- Rapid eating in preschool children is associated with greater adiposity and elevated cardiometabolic risk factors.
- Fast eating behavior correlates with reduced adherence to a healthy dietary pattern, such as the Mediterranean diet.
- Further research, including longitudinal and interventional studies, is needed to confirm these findings and explore causality.
Objective:
To assess the associations between eating speed, adiposity, cardiometabolic risk factors, and diet quality in a cohort of Spanish preschool-children.
Study Design:
A cross-sectional study in 1371 preschool age children (49% girls; mean age, 4.8 ± 1.0 years) from the Childhood Obesity Risk Assessment Longitudinal Study (CORALS) cohort was conducted. After exclusions, 956 participants were included in the analyses. The eating speed was estimated by summing the total minutes used in each of the 3 main meals and then categorized into slow, moderate, or fast. Multiple linear and logistic regression models were fitted to assess the β-coefficient, or OR and 95% CI, between eating speed and body mass index, waist circumference, fat mass index (FMI), blood pressure, fasting plasma glucose, and lipid profile.
Results:
Compared with participants in the slow-eating category, those in the fast-eating category had a higher prevalence risk of overweight/obesity (OR, 2.9; 95% CI, 1.8-4.4; P < .01); larger waist circumference (β, 2.6 cm; 95% CI, 1.5-3.8 cm); and greater FMI (β, 0.3 kg/m2; 95% CI, 0.1-0.5 kg/m2), systolic blood pressure (β, 2.8 mmHg; 95% CI, 0.6-4.9 mmHg), and fasting plasma glucose levels (β, 2.7 mg/dL, 95% CI, 1.2-4.2 mg/dL) but lower adherence to the Mediterranean diet (β, -0.5 points; 95% CI, -0.9 to -0.1 points).
Conclusions:
Eating fast is associated with higher adiposity, certain cardiometabolic risk factors, and lower adherence to a Mediterranean diet. Further long-term and interventional studies are warranted to confirm these associations.
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