Age and time trends in eating frequency and duration of nightly fasting of German children and adolescents.

Purpose: To describe age and time trends in eating occasion frequency (EOF), meal frequency (MF), snack frequency (SF) and duration of nightly fasting (DNF) in German children and adolescents.

Methods: 9757 3-day dietary records of 1246 3-18-year-old participants of the open DONALD cohort study, collected 1985-2014, were analyzed for age and time trends using polynomial mixed-effects regression models. Eating occasions were either assigned to meals or snacks (>10 or ≤10 % of daily total energy intake per eating occasion).

Commercial complementary food consumption is prospectively associated with added sugar intake in childhood.

Given that commercial complementary food (CF) can contain high levels of added sugar, a high consumption may predispose to a preference for sweet taste later in life. This study examined cross-sectional associations between commercial CF consumption and added sugar intake in infancy as well as its prospective relation to added sugar intake in pre-school and primary-school age children. In all, 288 children of the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed Study with 3-d weighed dietary records at 0·5 and 0·75 (infancy), 3 and 4 (pre-school age) and 6 and 7 years of age (primary-school age) were included in this analysis.

Relative validation of 24-h urinary hippuric acid excretion as a biomarker for dietary flavonoid intake from fruit and vegetables in healthy adolescents.

Purpose: A biomarker for dietary flavonoid intake from fruit and vegetables (FlavFV) is needed to elucidate the relevance of flavonoids from these sources for the prevention of chronic diseases. Urinary hippuric acid (HA)-a major metabolite of flavonoids-is promising in this respect as it was shown to satisfyingly indicate fruit and vegetable consumption in different age groups. Therefore, we validated urinary HA as a biomarker for intake of FlavFV.

Relevance of fruits, vegetables and flavonoids from fruits and vegetables during early life, mid-childhood and adolescence for levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) and its binding proteins IGFBP-2 and IGFBP-3 in young adulthood.

The growth hormone (GH) insulin-like growth factor (IGF) axis has been linked to insulin metabolism and cancer risk. Experimental evidence indicates that the GH-IGF axis itself can be influenced by dietary flavonoids. As fruit and vegetable (FV) intake is a major source of flavonoid consumption, FV's beneficial health effects may be explained via flavonoids' influence on the GH-IGF axis, but observational evidence is currently rare.

Increased intake of carbohydrates from sources with a higher glycemic index and lower consumption of whole grains during puberty are prospectively associated with higher IL-6 concentrations in younger adulthood among healthy individuals.

Chronic low-grade inflammation represents a likely intermediary in the relation between carbohydrate nutrition and both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. This study assessed the prospective association between carbohydrate quantity and quality [dietary glycemic index (GI), glycemic load (GL), and added sugar, fiber, and whole-grain intake] during puberty, a potentially critical period for later disease, and low-grade inflammation in younger adulthood. The analysis was based on 205 participants (113 girls and 92 boys) from the DONALD (Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed) study with at least 2 3-d weighed dietary records during puberty (girls: 9-14 y, boys: 10-15 y) and blood samples in younger adulthood (18-36 y).

Habitually higher dietary glycemic index during puberty is prospectively related to increased risk markers of type 2 diabetes in younger adulthood.

Objective: Carbohydrate nutrition during periods of physiological insulin resistance such as puberty may affect future risk of type 2 diabetes. This study examined whether the amount or the quality (dietary glycemic index [GI], glycemic load [GL], and added sugar, fiber, and whole-grain intake) of carbohydrates during puberty is associated with risk markers of type 2 diabetes in younger adulthood.

Research Design And Methods: The analysis was based on 226 participants (121 girls and 105 boys) from the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed Study (DONALD) with an average of five 3-day weighed dietary records (range 2-6) during puberty (girls, age 9-14 years; boys, age 10-15 years) and fasting blood samples in younger adulthood (age 18-36 years) (average duration of follow-up 12.

Anthocyanins in the diet of children and adolescents: intake, sources and trends.

Purpose: Anthocyanin intake estimations in large cohorts include almost exclusively adults. For the purpose of early dietary prevention, however, it is of great interest to estimate anthocyanin intake of children and adolescents.

Methods: Anthocyanidin content values from the USDA Database (excluding the values for bananas and nuts) were assigned to foods consumed by 4-18-year-old participants of the DONALD Study.

Liking of anthocyanin-rich juices by children and adolescents.

There is evidence that a diet rich in plant foods is protective against cardiovascular disease and cancer, partly attributable to secondary plant metabolites such as anthocyanins, a colourful group of flavonoids. As at present children and adolescents do not consume the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables, one possible way of increasing intake, and particularly intake of anthocyanins, may be an anthocyanin-rich juice, since fruit juice is popular with young Germans. We produced eight different fruit products (six juices, two smoothies), and conducted hedonic tests with participants from the DONALD Study.

Longitudinal associations between reported sleep duration in early childhood and the development of body mass index, fat mass index and fat free mass index until age 7.

Objective: Epidemiological studies in children and adolescents have revealed short sleep duration as a risk factor for weight gain. However, only few studies have addressed sleep in early childhood. Our aim was to determine whether sleep in the second year of life is associated with the development of body composition throughout childhood.

Anthocyanins in the diet of infants and toddlers: intake, sources and trends.

Purpose: Anthocyanins, a colourful group of flavonoids in many fruits and vegetables, are proposed to provide positive impact on human health. However, intake estimations have almost exclusively been conducted in adult populations. As infants and toddlers are a promising age group for health promotion, we examined their anthocyanin intake (as anthocyanidins), food sources and trends of age and time in anthocyanidin density.

Body composition trajectories into adolescence according to age at pubertal growth spurt.

Objective: To investigate whether the development of body composition into adolescence differs among children with an early, average, or late pubertal growth spurt (age at take-off [ATO]).

Methods: Mixed-effect polynomial models were applied to serial anthropometric measurements spanning from 4 years before to 4 years after ATO in 215 DONALD participants. Sex-specific trajectories of fat mass index (FMI, FM/m(2) ), fat-free mass index (FFMI, FFM/m(2) ), and their z-scores were compared among those with an early, average, or late ATO.

Trends in dietary carbohydrate quality during puberty from 1988 to 2007: a cause for concern?

The extent to which the quality of dietary carbohydrates (CHO) changes throughout puberty is not known. We analysed trends in the quantity and quality of CHO intake among German adolescents by separately examining trends during puberty (pubertal trends) and trends in CHO intake from 1988 to 2007 (secular trends). Linear mixed-effects regression analyses were performed in 216 participants of the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed Study who had provided weighed 3 d dietary records at the onset of the pubertal growth spurt (defined by age at take-off) and over the subsequent 4 years.

Longitudinal associations between endogenous melatonin production and reported sleep duration from childhood to early adulthood.

Background/aims: The study objective was to assess longitudinal associations between melatonin secretion and reported sleep duration from childhood to early adulthood.

Methods: In the frame of the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) Study, 24-hour melatonin secretion and average daily sleep duration were determined once during childhood (4-< 11 years), adolescence (11-<16 years) and early adulthood (16-19 years) in 52 participants (23 males/29 females) aged 4-19 years. The associations between (1) melatonin secretion and sleep duration in childhood (cross-sectional); (2) melatonin secretion in childhood and sleep duration in early adulthood (prospective), and (3) changes in melatonin secretion and concurrent changes in sleep duration from childhood to early adulthood (concurrent) were analyzed.

Relation of dietary glycemic index, glycemic load, and fiber and whole-grain intakes during puberty to the concurrent development of percent body fat and body mass index.

The authors prospectively examined whether change in dietary glycemic index (GI), glycemic load (GL), fiber intake, or whole-grain intake during puberty is associated with concurrent change in percentage of body fat (%BF) or body mass index (BMI; weight (kg)/height)(2). Linear mixed-effects regression analyses were performed in 215 participants from the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) Study (Dortmund, Germany) who possessed weighed 3-day dietary records and anthropometric data at puberty onset (defined by age at takeoff) and over the subsequent 4 years (1988-2007). Neither changes in dietary GI, GL, fiber intake, nor whole-grain intake were associated with concurrent changes in %BF throughout puberty (change in %BF: -0.

Effects of breastfeeding on trajectories of body fat and BMI throughout childhood.

Objective: To investigate the effect of breastfeeding in healthy boys and girls on their trajectories of percent body fat (%BF) and BMI standard deviation scores (BMI-SDS) throughout childhood.

Methods And Procedures: Analyses of the DOrtmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed (DONALD) Study included data from 219 male and 215 female term participants, born between 1984 and 1999, with repeated anthropometric measurements between 0.5 and 7 years and prospective data on duration of breastfeeding.

Rapid growth among term children whose birth weight was appropriate for gestational age has a longer lasting effect on body fat percentage than on body mass index.

Background: It is not clear whether and how rapid growth in infancy, a risk factor for later obesity, differentially affects growth and body-composition development throughout childhood in term children with an appropriate-for-gestational age (AGA) birth weight.

Objective: The aim was to examine the effect of rapid growth in infancy on body mass index SD score (BMI SDS) and body fat percentage (%BF) trajectories until age 7 y.

Design: This analysis included 206 (50.