Circulating miRNAs Are Associated with Inflammation Biomarkers in Children with Overweight and Obesity: Results of the I.Family Study.

Increasing data suggest that overnutrition-induced obesity may trigger an inflammatory process in adipose tissue and upturn in the innate immune system. Numerous players have been involved in governing the inflammatory response, including epigenetics. Among epigenetic players, miRNAs are emerging as crucial regulators of immune cell development, immune responses, autoimmunity, and inflammation.

Media use trajectories and risk of metabolic syndrome in European children and adolescents: the IDEFICS/I.Family cohort.

Background: Media use may influence metabolic syndrome (MetS) in children. Yet, longitudinal studies are scarce. This study aims to evaluate the longitudinal association of childhood digital media (DM) use trajectories with MetS and its components.

Prospective physical fitness status and development of cardiometabolic risk in children according to body fat and lifestyle behaviours: The IDEFICS study.

Background: Elevated cardiometabolic risk (CMR) is an important factor for cardiovascular diseases later in life while physical fitness seems to decrease CMR.

Objective: Thus, the aim of the present study is to assess the association between muscular fitness (MF) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) on CMR in European children, both cross-sectional and longitudinally.

Methods: A total of 289 children (49.

Circulating miRNAs are associated with sleep duration in children/adolescents: Results of the I.Family Study.

New Findings: What is the central question of this study? Are differential patterns of circulating miRNAs associated with sleep duration in normal-weight European children and adolescents? What is the main finding and its importance? Differences in the expression level of circulating miR-26b-3p and miR-485-5p are positively associated with total sleep duration in healthy normal-weight children and adolescents.

Abstract: It is commonly recognized that sleep is essential for children's health, and that insufficient sleep duration is associated with negative health outcomes. In humans, sleep duration and quality are influenced by genetic, environmental and social factors.

Dietary calcium intake and adiposity in children and adolescents: Cross-sectional and longitudinal results from IDEFICS/I.Family cohort.

Background And Aims: Studies in children and adolescents suggest that higher dairy consumption may exert a protective effect on adiposity. However, only few studies examined the association between dietary calcium intake and body mass measures with conflicting results. We evaluated the association between total dietary calcium, calcium from dairy and non-dairy sources and anthropometric indices in a large European cohort of children and adolescents.

Pre-obese children's dysbiotic gut microbiome and unhealthy diets may predict the development of obesity.

It is widely accepted that the intestinal microbiome is connected to obesity, as key mediator of the diet impact on the host metabolic and immunological status. To investigate whether the individual gut microbiome has a potential in predicting the onset and progression of diseases, here we characterized the faecal microbiota of 70 children in a two-time point prospective study, within a four-year window. All children had normal weight at the beginning of this study, but 36 of them gained excessive weight at the subsequent check-up.

The Impact of Adding Sugars to Milk and Fruit on Adiposity and Diet Quality in Children: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Analysis of the Identification and Prevention of Dietary- and Lifestyle-Induced Health Effects in Children and Infants (IDEFICS) Study.

Sugar, particularly as free sugars or sugar-sweetened beverages, significantly contributes to total energy intake, and, possibly, to increased body weight. Excessive consumption may be considered as a proxy of poor diet quality. However, no previous studies evaluated the association between the habit of adding sugars to "healthy" foods, such as plain milk and fresh fruit, and indicators of adiposity and/or dietary quality in children.

The association of emotion-driven impulsiveness, cognitive inflexibility and decision-making with weight status in European adolescents.

Objective: To explore the association between emotion-driven impulsiveness, cognitive inflexibility, decision-making and weight status as reflected in body mass index (BMI) z-score (zBMI) in European adolescents.

Methods: In total, 3354 adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years from the I.Family cohort completed the questionnaire-based negative urgency subscale from the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale to measure emotion-driven impulsiveness in 2013/2014.

Prospective associations between dietary patterns and body composition changes in European children: the IDEFICS study.

Objective: To describe dietary patterns by applying cluster analysis and to describe the cluster memberships of European children over time and their association with body composition changes.

Design: The analyses included k-means clustering based on the similarities between the relative frequencies of consumption of forty-three food items and regression models were fitted to assess the association between dietary patterns and body composition changes.

Setting: Primary schools and pre-schools of selected regions in Italy, Estonia, Cyprus, Belgium, Sweden, Hungary, Germany and Spain.

Analysis of the association of leptin and adiponectin concentrations with metabolic syndrome in children: Results from the IDEFICS study.

Background And Aims: Adipokines may play a role in the pathogenesis of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in children. We aimed to evaluate the association of leptin, adiponectin, and its ratio (L/A ratio) with the metabolic syndrome (MetS) in a subsample of the IDEFICS (Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health EFfects In Children and infantS) cohort.

Methods And Results: Leptin, adiponectin and MetS parameters were measured in a subsample of 1253 children (3-9.

Prospective associations between dietary patterns and high sensitivity C-reactive protein in European children: the IDEFICS study.

Purpose: This prospective study explores high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels in relation to dietary patterns at two time points in European children.

Methods: Out of the baseline sample of the IDEFICS study (n = 16,228), 4020 children, aged 2-9 years at baseline, with available hs-CRP levels and valid data from a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) at baseline (T0) and 2 years later (T1) were included. K-means clustering algorithm based on the similarities between relative food consumption frequencies of the FFQ was applied.

Dietary Patterns of European Children and Their Parents in Association with Family Food Environment: Results from the I.Family Study.

The aim of this study was to determine whether an association exists between children's  and  parental  dietary  patterns  (DP),  and  whether  the  number  of  shared  meals  or  soft  drink  availability  during  meals  strengthens  this  association.  In  2013/2014  the  I.Family  study  cross-sectionally assessed the dietary intakes of families from eight European countries using 24-h  dietary recalls.

A Common Variant and the Transcript Levels of MC4R Gene Are Associated With Adiposity in Children: The IDEFICS Study.

Context: The melanocortin-4 receptor gene (MC4R) plays a pivotal role in the regulation of body fat and food and energy intake.

Objectives: The objectives of the study were as follows: 1) to evaluate the association of variants rs17782313 and rs17700633 near the coding region of MC4R and 2) to evaluate the association of the transcript levels of MC4R with adiposity indices and percentage of energy from fat, carbohydrates, and protein in children.

Design: The Identification and Prevention of Dietary- and Lifestyle-Induced Health Effects in Children and Infants (IDEFICS) cohort was used, with examinations at baseline (T0) and after 2 years (T1).

Urinary Mineral Concentrations in European Pre-Adolescent Children and Their Association with Calcaneal Bone Quantitative Ultrasound Measurements.

This study investigates differences and associations between urinary mineral concentrations and calcaneal bone measures assessed by quantitative ultrasonography (QUS) in 4322 children (3.1-11.9 years, 50.

Early Life Factors and Inter-Country Heterogeneity in BMI Growth Trajectories of European Children: The IDEFICS Study.

Background: Starting from birth, this explorative study aimed to investigate between-country differences in body mass index (BMI) trajectories and whether early life factors explain these differences.

Methods: The sample included 7,644 children from seven European countries (Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Sweden) participating in the multi-centre IDEFICS study. Information on early life factors and in total 53,409 repeated measurements of height and weight from 0 to <12 years of age were collected during the baseline (2007/2008) and follow-up examination (2009/2010) supplemented by records of routine child health visits.

Dietary Carbohydrate and Nocturnal Sleep Duration in Relation to Children's BMI: Findings from the IDEFICS Study in Eight European Countries.

Previous research has found an association between being overweight and short sleep duration. We hypothesized that this association could be modified by a high carbohydrate (HC) diet and that the timing and type (starch or sugar) of intake may be an important factor in this context. Participants in the prospective, eight-country European study IDEFICS were recruited from September 2007 to June 2008, when they were aged two to nine years.

Associations between early body mass index trajectories and later metabolic risk factors in European children: the IDEFICS study.

Faster growth seems to be a common factor in several hypotheses relating early life exposures to subsequent health. This study aims to investigate the association between body mass index (BMI) trajectories during infancy/childhood and later metabolic risk in order to identify sensitive periods of growth affecting health. In a first step, BMI trajectories of 3301 European children that participated in the multi-centre Identification and Prevention of Dietary and Lifestyle-induced Health Effects in Children and Infants (IDEFICS) study were modelled using linear-spline mixed-effects models.

TAS1R3 and UCN2 Transcript Levels in Blood Cells Are Associated With Sugary and Fatty Food Consumption in Children.

Context: New types of dietary exposure biomarkers are needed to implement effective strategies for obesity prevention in children. Of special interest are biomarkers of consumption of food rich in simple sugars and fat because their intake has been associated with obesity development. Peripheral blood cells (PBCs) represent a promising new tool for identifying novel, transcript-based biomarkers.

Peer effects on obesity in a sample of European children.

This study analyzes peer effects on childhood obesity using data from the first two waves of the IDEFICS study, which applies several anthropometric and other measures of fatness to approximately 14,000 children aged two to nine participating in both waves in 16 regions of eight European countries. Peers are defined as same-sex children in the same school and age group. The results show that peer effects do exist in this European sample but that they differ among both regions and different fatness measures.

Prospective associations between socio-economic status and dietary patterns in European children: the Identification and Prevention of Dietary- and Lifestyle-induced Health Effects in Children and Infants (IDEFICS) Study.

Exploring changes in children's diet over time and the relationship between these changes and socio-economic status (SES) may help to understand the impact of social inequalities on dietary patterns. The aim of the present study was to describe dietary patterns by applying a cluster analysis to 9301 children participating in the baseline (2-9 years old) and follow-up (4-11 years old) surveys of the Identification and Prevention of Dietary- and Lifestyle-induced Health Effects in Children and Infants Study, and to describe the cluster memberships of these children over time and their association with SES. We applied the K-means clustering algorithm based on the similarities between the relative frequencies of consumption of forty-two food items.

Overweight and obesity prevalence and trends in children and adolescents in Cyprus 2000-2010.

Objectives: To estimate the prevalence of overweight and obesity in 2010 and examine prevalence trends between 2000 and 2010 among school-aged children and adolescents in Cyprus.

Methods: A representative cross-sectional study was undertaken in 2010. Anthropometric data were taken using standard methods from 3090 children.

Percentile reference values for anthropometric body composition indices in European children from the IDEFICS study.

Introduction: To characterise the nutritional status in children with obesity or wasting conditions, European anthropometric reference values for body composition measures beyond the body mass index (BMI) are needed. Differentiated assessment of body composition in children has long been hampered by the lack of appropriate references.

Objectives: The aim of our study is to provide percentiles for body composition indices in normal weight European children, based on the IDEFICS cohort (Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health Effects in Children and infantS).

The combination of daily breakfast consumption and optimal breakfast choices in childhood is an important public health message.

The aim of this study was to investigate the association of breakfast consumption with children's diet quality and cardiometabolic risk factors. Study sample consisted of 1558 children aged 4-8 years from Cyprus. Breakfast frequency was assessed through a parental questionnaire.

A study of the dietary intake of Cypriot children and adolescents aged 6-18 years and the association of mother's educational status and children's weight status on adherence to nutritional recommendations.

Background: A balanced diet is fundamental for healthy growth and development of children. The aim of this study was to document and evaluate the dietary intake of Cypriot children aged 6-18 years (y) against recommendations, and to determine whether maternal education and children's weight status are associated with adherence to recommendations.

Methods: The dietary intake of a random sample of 1414 Cypriot children was assessed using a 3-day food diary.

Young children's screen activities, sweet drink consumption and anthropometry: results from a prospective European study.

Background/objectives: This longitudinal study describes the relationship between young children's screen time, dietary habits and anthropometric measures. The hypothesis was that television viewing and other screen activities at baseline result in increased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) and increased BMI, BMI z-score and waist to height ratio (WHtR) two years later. A second hypothesis was that SSB consumption mediates the association between the screen activities and changes in the anthropometric measures.