Assessment of Diet Quality in Children and Adolescents with Overweight or Obesity in Greece

Odysseas Androutsos; Thomas Tsiampalis; Matina Kouvari; Maria Manou; Maria Dimopoulou; Alexandra Georgiou; Rena I Kosti; Evangelia Charmandari

doi:10.3390/children10071261

Assessment of Diet Quality in Children and Adolescents with Overweight or Obesity in Greece

Children (Basel). 2023 Jul 22;10(7):1261. doi: 10.3390/children10071261.

Authors

Odysseas Androutsos¹, Thomas Tsiampalis¹, Matina Kouvari^{2

3

4}, Maria Manou⁵, Maria Dimopoulou¹, Alexandra Georgiou⁵, Rena I Kosti¹, Evangelia Charmandari^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, University of Thessaly, 42132 Trikala, Greece.
² Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, School of Health Science and Education, Harokopio University, 17671 Athens, Greece.
³ Discipline of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
⁴ Functional Foods and Nutrition Research (FFNR) Laboratory, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT 2617, Australia.
⁵ Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Diabetes, First Department of Pediatrics, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, 'Aghia Sophia' Children's Hospital, 11527 Athens, Greece.
⁶ Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Center of Clinical, Experimental Surgery and Translational Research, Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece.

Abstract

The adoption of healthy nutritional habits constitutes one of the most important determinants of healthy growth and development in childhood. Few studies in Greece have examined children's diet quality using diet indices. The present study aimed to assess the diet quality of a large cohort of children and adolescents with overweight or obesity. Study participants (n = 1335), aged 2-18, were recruited through the Out-patient Clinic for the Prevention and Management of Overweight and Obesity in Childhood and Adolescence, Aghia Sophia Children's Hospital, Athens, Greece. Anthropometric, socio-demographic, and behavioral data were collected using standard methods and equipment. The Diet Quality Index (DQI), which includes four subcomponents (i.e., dietary diversity, dietary quality, dietary equilibrium, and meal index), was calculated to assess each subject's diet quality. According to the results of this study, children's total DQI score was 63.1%. It was observed that 66.7% of the children had at least moderate diet quality (total DQI ≥ 59.34%). Boys had higher values of the total DQI and certain components of the DQI (i.e., dietary equilibrium score and meal index) compared to girls. Three out of ten children with overweight/obesity had poor diet quality (i.e., DQI ≤ 59.33). Younger children (2-5 years old) were found to have the lowest values of dietary equilibrium compared to older children (6-9 and 12-18 years old). Moreover, boys had higher values of the total DQI score and of specific components of this index (i.e., dietary equilibrium and meal index) compared to girls. Children living in urban areas had higher values in the dietary quality score compared to those living in rural areas. Children with overweight had higher values of the dietary quality score and the total DQI score compared to children with obesity. The present study highlighted that children and adolescents with overweight or obesity have poor diet quality. Multilevel and higher intensity interventions should be designed specifically for this group to achieve tangible outcomes.

Keywords: adolescents; children; diet quality; nutrition; obesity.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by national funds through the Research Funding of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (UOA) Medical School, Athens, Greece.