Abstract

The principal objective of this study was to identify the dietary and physical activity patterns of obese preschoolers, and to determine the association between child obesity and mother's' dietary habits or thoughts regarding dieting/weight. This is a cross-sectional, community based study, and 305 preschoolers who attended kindergarten in Seoul and its surrounding area were selected. The measurements of dietary habits both in preschoolers and their mothers, physical activities of preschoolers, and daily servings of foods were based on parents' self report. Weight and height were used to calculate WLI (weight length index) in preschoolers and BMI (body mass index) in their mothers. The subjects were divided into two groups 245 normal weight preschoolers (including underweight 15.1% and normal weight 65.6%) and 59 obese subjects (overweight 14.4% and obese 4.9%). With regard to dietary habits in normal and obese preschoolers, we noted significant differences in 5 questions, such as mostly eating heavy meals, one serving size, eating speed, overeating, and obsession about eating. No differences in daily servings of major foods and snacks, except fruits and potatoes, were noted between normal and obese children. Among 13 questions regarding mothers' dietary habits, only 3 questions-"preferred to instant foods", "finish meals within 15 minutes", "use nutritional information for selecting foods" were significantly different between normal and obese subjects. The total scores of mothers' dietary habits was significantly and negatively correlated with number of mother's dieting experiences or mother's BMI, but was not correlated with preschooler's obesity.

Keywords

• Preschoolers;
• obesity;
• dietary habit;
• physical activity;
• mother's dietary habit