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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Little Rock, Arkansas » Microbiome and Metabolism Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #151517
Title: RELATION OF DIET TO GROWTH MEASURES IN FAILURE TO THRIVE BABIES AND TODDLERS

Author
item DYKMAN, ROSCOE - ACNC
item JOHNSON, ALLEN - ACNC
item CASEY, PATRIC - UAMS
item TENNAL, KEVIN - ACNC
item PIVIK, R - ACNC

Submitted to: Pediatric Research
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/15/2003
Publication Date: 5/4/2003
Citation: DYKMAN, R.A., JOHNSON, A.M., CASEY, P.H., TENNAL, K.B., PIVIK, R.T. RELATION OF DIET TO GROWTH MEASURES IN FAILURE TO THRIVE BABIES AND TODDLERS. PEDIATRIC RESEARCH. 2003. v. 53. Abstract p. 240A.

Interpretive Summary: Three-day food intake records of infants and toddlers diagnosed with failure to thrive (FTT) were compared with those of normally growing controls. Controls matched the FTT subjects in age, sex, race, and social status. Correlations between 21 growth measures (weight, height, head circumference, etc) and 34 nutrients (amino acids, fats, minerals, etc) were significantly higher for controls than for FTTs. While nutrient intake was higher on the average in FTTs, it had no positive effect upon their growth variables. Thus, this study suggests that what a child eats is more predictive of growth status in controls than in FTTs.

Technical Abstract: Background: Positive effects have been reported in some but not in all studies between food intake (FI) and growth measures for children below expected standards in growth. What has not been looked at in sufficient detail is the direct and indirect effects of multiple micronutrients upon the growth of American children who have been labeled failure to thrive (FTT). Objective: The present study examined the relations of micronutrients (n=34) obtained from 3-day food records to anthropometric measures (n=22). Design/Methods: Data obtained on 65 FTT babies and toddlers and 33 controls ages 6 to 24 months with sexes evenly divided. Controls were 1.8 months younger on average than FTTs. Growth measures were raw and standardized weight, height measures including recumbent length, circumferences of the head, waist, hip, calf, right arm, biceps, and triceps, and sub-scapula, and skin fold measures from the calf, supra iliac, and quadriceps. From the food records, 34 of 100 nutrients with p- values < .025 were selected, and correlations between these and growth measures were computed for each group separately (748 correlations/group). Results: FTTs had a greater number of significant positive correlations with growth than controls in lactose and total trans-fatty acids, and a greater number of negative correlations with growth than controls in maltose, pectins, tocopherols (total and alpha), iron and vitamin K (p<. 05 by Fishers Exact Chi Square Test). Controls had a significantly greater number of positive correlations with growth variables in maltose, pectins, insoluble and soluble fiber, tocopherols (total, alpha, and beta), vitamin B6, iron, lycopene, phytic acid, oxalic acid, and retinol. There was no variable on which controls had more significant negative correlations than FTTs, and on correlations between single pairs of variables, controls had higher positive values than FTTs. FTTs were significantly shorter in stature and weighed less than controls, and except for maltose (FTTS >controls) the means between groups for all other nutrients did not differ significantly when gender and age were controlled. Conclusion: To the extent that food records can be assumed to be reliable, it appears that the growth problems of FTTs are not attributable to food intake, but to differences in bioavailability. Growth variables alone were powerful predictors of FTT and gender. Systematic studies of a great variety of micronutritents are needed, because only in this way can the importance of direct and indirect pathways upon growth be assessed. Supported in part by the Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center through USDA ARS CRIS # 6251-51000-002-03S