Changing child diet helps adult health

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Lowering fat and increasing dietary fiber consumption in childhood results in lower glucose levels and lower blood pressure in adulthood, U.S. researchers say.

Lead author Joanne Dorgan of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and colleagues evaluated 230 women ages 25-29, nine years after they had participated in the Dietary Intervention Study in Children, which urged the women to lower their fat consumption to 28 percent of daily caloric intake and increase dietary fiber by eating fruit, vegetables and whole grains.

Dorgan and the research team measured body composition of study participants using whole body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry scans. Blood pressure was measured and blood analyzed for glucose (sugar), cholesterol and triglycerides (fats).

"Few participants in our follow-up study met the criteria for metabolic syndrome -- a cluster of symptoms including belly fat; low levels of high-density lipoprotein, the "good" cholesterol; higher levels of triglycerides and blood glucose and elevated blood pressure -- but the intervention group had statistically significant lower mean systolic blood pressure and fasting plasma glucose levels compared to the control group," Dorgan said in a statement.

The study was accepted for publication in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.