Positive Childhood Experiences, Adverse Childhood Experiences, and Diet in Early Adolescents

To understand the relationships among ACEs, PCEs, and diet quality in early adolescents.

A cross-sectional analysis of early adolescents (n=7336, mean age 12.0yrs) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development^SM (ABCD) study. Diet measures included a healthy diet score and intake of ultraprocessed foods, added sugar, saturated fat, and sodium. ACEs and PCEs were derived from child and parent questionnaires. Multivariate linear regressions predicting diet quality and intake were performed, with ACEs and PCEs as independent variables, adjusting for demographics and sexual maturity rating.

On one-way ANOVA analyses, both ACEs and PCEs categories were associated with differences in healthy diet score and intake. On multivariate linear regression analyses, a higher PCEs category was associated with higher healthy diet score, compared to 0-2 PCEs; 3-4 PCEs: b=0.65 (0.34 to 0.96); 5+ PCEs: b=1.73 (1.38 to 2.07). Higher ACEs were not significantly associated with the healthy diet score. For ultraprocessed food, higher PCEs category was associated with less intake (compared to 0-2 PCEs; 3-4 PCEs: b=-13.8 (-24.7 to -2.8); 5+ PCEs: b=-33.7 (-46.0 to -21.6), while higher ACEs category was associated with more intake (compared to 0 ACEs, 1-3 ACEs: b=17.1 (6.8 to 27.4), 4+ ACEs: b=41.4 (22.3 to 60.5)).

In early adolescents, PCEs are associated with improved diet quality and less intake of unhealthy foods; in contrast, ACEs are associated with higher intake of ultraprocessed food. These findings may help pediatricians counsel patients about dietary choices.