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Diet quality and diet costs in German children and adolescents

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 68, pages 1175–1176 (2014)Cite this article

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Abstract

We examined the association between diet costs and diet quality in a sample of children and adolescents using data from the ongoing longitudinal (open cohort) DONALD (Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed) study. Children and adolescents aged 4–18 years (255 boys and 239 girls) provided 1100 yearly collected 3-day weighted dietary records. Linear mixed (effects) models were used to analyze the association between diet costs (€/day, estimated using retail food prices) and the Nutrient Quality Index (NQI) and the Healthy Nutrition Score for Kids and Youth (HuSKY). Analysis were stratified for low-quality records (score<median) and high-quality records (score>median). No significant association was found in the low-quality records, whereas in the high-quality records the association was significantly positive for both scores (HuSKY P=0.016, NQI P<0.0001). In conclusion, a substantial part of our sample could increase their diet quality without a noteworthy increase of expenditure.

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Acknowledgements

The DONALD study is supported by the Ministry of Science and Research of North Rhine Westphalia, Germany.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition and Food Science, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms University of Bonn, Dortmund, Germany,

    U Alexy

  2. Research Institute of Child Nutrition, Dortmund, Germany

    V Schwager & M Kersting

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  1. U Alexy
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  2. V Schwager
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  3. M Kersting
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Correspondence to U Alexy.

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Alexy, U., Schwager, V. & Kersting, M. Diet quality and diet costs in German children and adolescents. Eur J Clin Nutr 68, 1175–1176 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.101

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.101

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