Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2006

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MS

College

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Department

Human Nutrition and Foods

Committee Chair

Cindy Fitch.

Abstract

Recently, there has been a rise in overweight in children. Overweight in children is associated with chronic diseases in childhood and adulthood. This study aimed to analyze factors that may influence weight of children. Specifically, average soft drink consumption, average hours of television/video viewing/video game playing, and mothers' BMI were compared among overweight and normal weight preschool-aged children in rural West Virginia.;Children, mean age 52 months, residing in McDowell or Mercer counties in West Virginia. Parents or other caregivers completed 24-hour dietary recalls. They also provided average hours of TV/video viewed/video games played by children. Subjects consisted of overweight, BMI ≥ 85th percentile, and normal weight, BMI < 85th percentile, children.;A positive correlation between mother's BMI and child BMI was the only significant finding (P < 0.001). These results indicate a need to perform more studies on factors related to overweight in these children.

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