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Does Intake Meet the Recommendations? A Focus on Neighborhood-Level Disadvantage in Hispanic Families with Unhealthy Weight
Location: 68
Mentor: Dr. Padideh Lovan
Objectives: This study aimed to examine whether individuals living in disadvantaged neighborhoods have higher weight status and whether their daily dietary intake meets the dietary recommendations, and to what extent this varied by neighborhood disadvantage levels in Hispanic families with high prevalence of overweight or obesity.
Methods: Baseline data from 280 Hispanic adolescents (Mage = 13.01 ± 0.83; 52.1% females; MBody Mass Index (BMI) Percentile = 94.55 ± 4.15) and their parents (Mage = 41.87 ± 6.49; 88.2% females; MBMI = 30.62 ± 5.67) enrolled in a completed longitudinal study were used. Data on Hispanic adolescent and parent dietary intake of food key items (i.e., fiber, added sugar, whole grains, dairy, and fruits and vegetables) and socio-demographic characteristics were self-reported. Neighborhood deprivation was examined using the Area Deprivation Index (ADI) and categorized into low deprived, moderate deprived, and high deprived neighborhoods.
Results: Adolescents living in high deprived areas have a higher weight status. Regardless of participant neighborhood disadvantage level, both parent and adolescent dietary intake were significantly poorer than the recommendations. Although not statistically significant, our findings suggest a pattern where adolescents in more advantaged neighborhoods have higher intake of all dietary items; and parents in moderately deprived areas reported the highest intake of all food key items.
Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated that regardless of neighborhood disadvantage level, parent and adolescent dietary intake did not meet recommendations. Future studies should use a larger sample size and evaluate the impact of various neighborhoods with different ADI levels on dietary intake, considering availability and access to healthy food options.
