Energy intake variability in free-living young children

• Published in: Archives of disease in childhood Vol. 93; no. 11; pp. 971 - 973
• Main Authors: Nielsen, S B, Montgomery, C, Kelly, L A, Jackson, D M, Reilly, J J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health 01.11.2008; BMJ; BMJ Publishing Group Ltd; BMJ Publishing Group LTD
• Subjects: Age Differences; Bioenergetics; Biological and medical sciences; Body Composition; Body Mass Index; Child; Child nutrition; Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena - physiology; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Circadian Rhythm; Cohort Studies; Diet Records; Energy; Energy Intake - physiology; Energy metabolism; Feeding Behavior - physiology; Female; Gender differences; General aspects; Humans; Hypotheses; Male; Males; Medical sciences; Meta Analysis; Miscellaneous; Obesity; Organic Chemistry; Prevention and actions; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Sampling; Scientific Concepts; Sex Factors; Social Class; Statistical Analysis; Young Children; United Kingdom; United Kingdom > UK; Human; Preschool age; Pediatrics; Diet; Variability; Energy input; Child; Public health; Feeding
• ISSN: 0003-9888; 1468-2044
• DOI: 10.1136/adc.2007.136119

It has been suggested that young children regulate their daily energy intake very closely with highly stable day-to-day total energy intake. This hypothesis was developed on the basis of an experimental study of 15 children aged 26 to 62 months, which reported a within-subject coefficient of variation (CV) in daily energy intake of 10.4%. We tested the hypothesis that free-living energy intakes were highly stable on a day-to-day basis in a sample of free-living young children from Glasgow, Scotland. In 101 children (47 boys) aged 2.6–6.8 years, energy intake was measured using multiple-pass 24-h recalls. Within-subject CV was 19.2%, which was significantly higher than the 10.4% reported by previously Birch and colleagues (p<0.0001). In addition, we identified four other studies on free-living children with within-subject CVs ranging from 16.1–28.7%. This evidence indicates that young children show a wide intra-individual variation in day-to-day regulation of energy intake in a free-living environment.