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Nutrient intake: relationships with lipids and lipoproteins in 6--19-year-old children--the Princeton School District
Insights
Childhood nutrient intake shows weak but significant links to blood lipids like cholesterol and triglycerides. Dietary fat ratios and carbohydrate intake may influence lipid profiles, potentially impacting atherosclerosis precursors.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nutrition
- Cardiovascular Health
- Lipid Metabolism
Background:
- Understanding nutrient-lipid relationships in children is crucial for identifying early risk factors for atherosclerosis.
- Dietary patterns can influence lipid profiles, but evidence in diverse pediatric populations requires further investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To examine the associations between nutrient intakes and plasma lipid and lipoprotein levels in a biracial cohort of children aged 6-19.
- To identify specific nutrients and dietary patterns that correlate with lipid profiles and may contribute to pediatric atherosclerosis precursors.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional study of 949 children from the Princeton School District.
- Analysis of nutrient intake via dietary assessment and plasma lipid/lipoprotein levels.
- Statistical adjustments for age, race, sex, weight, height, and Quetelet index.
Main Results:
- Significant, though small, inverse correlations were found between dietary polyunsaturated to saturated (P/S) fat ratios and carbohydrates with total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C).
- Plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) showed an inverse correlation with dietary sucrose, while triglycerides correlated positively.
- Children with highest HDL-C had lower carbohydrate and calorie intake; those with highest cholesterol had higher cholesterol and protein intake.
Conclusions:
- Nutrient intake plays a small but significant role in modulating lipid and lipoprotein levels in children.
- Dietary factors, including carbohydrate and fat composition, may be relevant to pediatric atherosclerosis development.
- Further research into pediatric nutrition and its long-term cardiovascular implications is warranted.
Abstract:
Relationships between nutrient intakes and plasma lipids and lipoproteins were studied in 949 randomly selected children, ages 6--19, in the biracial, suburban, Princeton School District. While nutrient intake increased with age in males, such age-associated increases in nutrient ingestion were much less consistent or were not significant for females. Primarily in the 6--9 and 10--12 yr age groups, white children ingested more total calories, more saturated fat, and a lower ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated (P/S) fat, more total carbohydrates, sucrose, starch, and other carbohydrates, and more protein than black children. After adjusting for age, race, sex, weight, and height, several nutrient-lipid and lipoprotein partial correlation coefficients were significant, but of relatively low magnitude. There were weak but significant inverse correlations between dietary P/S ratios and dietary carbohydrates with both total (r = -.07, -0.7) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (C-LDL), (r = -.07, -.08). Plasma high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (C-HDL) was inversely and significantly correlated with dietary sucrose (r = -.07); plasma triglyceride correlated positively with dietary sucrose (r = .08). Potential relationships between nutrients and lipids-lipoproteins were also examined in children at the extremes of, and in the middle of, lipid-lipoprotein distributions. After covariance adjustment for age, sex, race, and Quetelet index, children having the highest levels of C-HDL had the lowest intake of dietary carbohydrate and total calories. After further covariance adjustment for total calories, children at the highest end of the plasma cholesterol distribution had a greater intake of cholesterol and total protein than did children in the lowest end of the distribution. Nutrient intake may play a small but significant role relative to lipids and lipoproteins in children, and as such, may have importance relative to pediatric precursors of atherosclerosis.