Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Interventions and public health nutrition

The impact of replacing regular- with reduced-fat dairy foods on children’s wider food intake: secondary analysis of a cluster RCT

Abstract

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES:

The effect of changing one aspect of diet needs to be considered within the context of total diet. The study aim was to evaluate the changes in children’s overall food intake following replacement of regular-fat with reduced-fat dairy foods.

SUBJECTS/METHODS:

Secondary analysis of a cluster Randomized Controlled Trial where families were received parental behavioral nutrition education to change to reduced-fat dairy foods (intervention) or reduce screen time (comparison control). Food intake was assessed via multiple 24-h recalls at baseline, week 12 (end of the intervention) and week 24. Participants were parents and their children (4–13 years, N=145) who were regular-fat dairy food consumers. The intervention effect was based on mixed model analysis adjusted for covariates, and baseline food intake.

RESULTS:

At week 24, total dairy servings per day were similar between groups and servings of reduced-fat dairy foods were higher in the intervention group (0.8 servings per day 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.5–1.1, P<0.0001). Fruit intake was higher in the intervention group (0.5 servings per day 95% CI 0.02–0.9, P=0.040), with no other statistically significant differences in food intake. In the intervention group, the contribution of core food groups to saturated fat intake was 45% at baseline and 31% at week 24, with ‘extra foods’ being the largest contributor to total energy (28%) and saturated fat (40%) intake at follow-up.

CONCLUSIONS:

Changing children’s dairy food choices to reduced-fat varieties did not adversely affect overall food intake. Replacing energy-dense foods with nutrient-rich foods should be the focus of interventions to lower in saturated fat.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Dixon LB, Tershakovec AM, McKenzie J, Shannon B . Diet quality of young children who received nutrition education promoting lower dietary fat. Pub Hlth Nutr 2000; 3: 411–416.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Hendrie GA, Golley RK . Changing from regular-fat to low-fat dairy foods reduces saturated fat intake but not energy intake in 4-13-y-old children. Am J Clin Nutr 2011; 93: 1117–1127.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Lauer RM, Obarzanek E, Hunsberger SA, Van Horn L, Hartmuller VW, Barton BA et al. Efficacy and safety of lowering dietary intake of total fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol in children with elevated LDL cholesterol: the Dietary Intervention Study in Children. Am J Clin Nutr 2000; 72 (5 Suppl), 1332S–1342S.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Niinikoski H, Lagstrom H, Jokinen E, Siltala M, Ronnemaa T, Viikari J et al. Impact of repeated dietary counseling between infancy and 14 years of age on dietary intakes and serum lipids and lipoproteins: the STRIP study. Circulation 2007; 116: 1032–1040.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Van Horn L, Obarzanek E, Friedman LA, Gernhofer N, Barton B . Children's adaptations to a fat-reduced diet: the Dietary Intervention Study in Children (DISC). Pediatrics 2005; 115: 1723–1733.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Abargouei AS, Janghorbani M, Salehi-Marzijarani M, Esmaillzadeh A . Effect of dairy consumption on weight and body composition in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled clinical trials. Int J Obes; e-pub ahead of print 18 January 2012; doi:ijo.2011.269.

  7. Astrup A, Chaput JP, Gilbert JA, Lorenzen JK . Dairy beverages and energy balance. Physiol Behav 2000; 100: 67–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Anderson GH, Luhovyy B, Akhavan T, Panahi S . Milk proteins in the regulation of body weight, satiety, food intake and glycemia. Nestle Nutr Workshop Ser Pediatr Program 2011; 67: 147–159.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Spence LA, Cifelli CJ, Miller GD . The Role of Dairy Products in Healthy Weight and Body Composition in Children and Adolescents. Curr Nutr Food Sci 2012; 7: 40–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. O'Connor TM, Yang SJ, Nicklas TA . Beverage intake among preschool children and its effect on weight status. Pediatrics 2006; 118: e1010–e1018.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. LaRowe TL, Moeller SM, Adams AK . Beverage patterns, diet quality, and body mass index of US preschool and school-aged children. J Am Diet Assoc 2007; 107: 1124–1133.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. CSIRO/UniSA. 2007. Australian National Children's Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey - Main Findings. Commonwealth Government, Department of Health and Ageing: Canberra, 2008.

  13. Guenther PM, DeMaio TJ, Berlin M . The multiple-pass approach for the 24-h recall in the continuing survey of food intakes by individuals 1994-1996. Am J Clin Nutr 1997; 65 (Suppl 1), S1316.

    Google Scholar 

  14. Johnson RK, Driscoll P, Goarn MI . Comparison of multiple-pass 24-h recall estimates of energy intake with total energy expenditure detiremined by the doubly labeled water method in young children. JADA 1996; 96: 1140–1144.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. United States Department of Agriculture Food Surveys Research Group. Food Model Booklet. CSIRO: Adelaide, Australia, 2007.

  16. Smith A, Kellet E, Schmerlaib Y . Australian Guide to Healthy Eating. Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services: Canberra, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  17. NHMRC. The Core Food Groups. The scientific basis for developing nutrition education tools. ACT: NHMRC: Canberra, 1994.

  18. World Health Organisation. Obesity: preventing and managing the global epidemic. Report of a WHO Consultation. WHO Technical Report Series 894., World Health Organization: Geneva, 2000.

  19. Cole TJ, Bellizzi MC, Flegal KM, Dietz WH . Establishing a standard definition for child overweight and obesity worldwide: international survey. BMJ 2000; 320: 1240–1243.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Campbell MK, Mollison J, Grimshaw JM . Cluster trials in implementation research: estimation of intracluster correlation coefficients and sample size. Statistical Medicine 2001; 20: 391.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Faith MS, Keller KL, Johnson SL et al. Familial aggregation of energy intake in children. Am J Clin Nutr 2004; 79: 844–850.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Paineau D, Beaufils F, Boulier A et al. The cumulative effect of small dietary changes may significantly improve nutritional intakes in free-living children and adults. Eur J Clin Nutr 2010; 64: 782–791.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Basch CE, Shea S, Zybert P . Food sources, dietary behavior, and the saturated fat intake of Latino children. Am J Public Health 1992; 82: 810–815.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. National Health and Medical Research Council. Nutrient Reference Values for Australia and New Zealand Including Recommended Dietary Intakes. Department of Healthy and Aging, Australian Government: Australia, 2006.

  25. Golley RK, Hendrie GA, McNaughton SA . Scores on the dietary guideline index for children and adolescents are associated with nutrient intake and socio-economic position but not adiposity. J Nutr 141: 1340–1347.

Download references

Acknowledgements

We appreciate the efforts of the CSIRO Clinical Research Unit for managing the trial, and we thank the families for volunteering to participant in this research. This research was funded by Dairy Australia Ltd. RKG was supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council public health training award (478115).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R K Golley.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

This randomized controlled trial was funded by Dairy Australia Ltd but was designed, implemented and analyzed and the manuscript was prepared without input from Dairy Australia Ltd. Dairy Australia Ltd approved the manuscript for publication. GH is employed by the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research Organisation.

Additional information

Contributors: GAH and RKG: designed and supervised the implementation of the research, performed statistical analyses, wrote the manuscript, and had primary responsibility for the final content of the manuscript.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Golley, R., Hendrie, G. The impact of replacing regular- with reduced-fat dairy foods on children’s wider food intake: secondary analysis of a cluster RCT. Eur J Clin Nutr 66, 1130–1134 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2012.113

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2012.113

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links