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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #396804
Research Project: Preventing the Development of Childhood Obesity

Location: Children's Nutrition Research Center

Title: Baseline diet quality using the Healthy Eating Index-2015 for African American girls in an online obesity prevention program

Author
item CALLENDER, CHISHINGA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item JOHNSON, ALLISON - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item MIRABILE, YIMING - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item MUSAAD, SALMA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item Thompson, Deborah - Debbe

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/21/2022
Publication Date: 10/11/2022
Citation: Callender, C., Johnson, A., Mirabile, Y., Musaad, S., Thompson, D.J. 2022. Baseline diet quality using the Healthy Eating Index-2015 for African American girls in an online obesity prevention program [abstract]. FNCE 2022 - Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo. October 8-11, 2022; Orlando, FL. Poster Presentation.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Diet-related disparities exist, and diet quality is lower for African American girls compared to their white peers. These disparities increase obesity and chronic disease risk for African American girls. The purpose of this research was to report baseline diet quality using Health Eating Index (HEI)-2015 among 8-10-year-old African American girls in an online obesity prevention program. Cross-sectional analysis of baseline data collected on 342 African American girls and their parent were used. Two 24-hour dietary recalls were used to assess dietary intake for the girls. Descriptive statistics were computed and ANOVA was used to compare differences in HEI-2015 and its 13 components with the demographic characteristics. The mean HEI-2015 total score was 53.58. The mean scores for total vegetables (1.21 +/- 0.76), total fruit (1.51 +/- 1.12), whole fruit (1.39 +/- 1.21), and whole grains (1.96 +/- 1.8) were low. The mean scores for refined grains (8.85 +/- 1.37), sodium (8.83 +/- 1.42), added sugars (9.07 +/- 1.17), and saturated fats (7.39 +/- 2.16) were high. Significant differences were found in the total HEI-2015 score (p=0.0239) and saturated fats (p=0.0165) for highest household education level, and significant differences were found in fatty acids (p=0.0391) and added sugars (p=0.0083) for marital status. Understanding diet quality for 8-10 year old African American girls can provide insight on how to reduce disparities in diet quality and how to move forward in the development of nutrition education programs and resources for African American families.