(P24-028-23) The Home Food Environment Is Associated With Weight Status of Young Children With Limited Resources in Rural Settings

Objectives: With obesity rates continuing to increase in the U.S. across the family unit, it is imperative to understand how the home food environment (HFE) influences diet and weight outcomes. Seeing that the availability of specific food groups in the HFE has been associated with diet intake among adults and children, this study examined whether HFE quality is associated with maternal and child weight outcomes.

Methods: Baseline data from the HEROs study, a family-based obesity prevention program for mother-child dyads (n=30) with limited resources living in rural communities, was examined. Body Mass Index (BMI/BMIz) was calculated from measured height and weight. HFE quality was assessed by the Home-IDEA3 (HI3) food inventory (131 food items), which computes quality by way of an adequacy (e.g., fruits and vegetables) score (0-45) and a moderation (e.g., convenience foods and sugar-sweetened beverages) score (0-25). A higher score in either is associated with a higher quality HFE. Multiple linear regressions tested associations between HFE quality and maternal and child weight status, controlling for income. Significance was set at α < 0.05.

Results: The mean HI3 adequacy and moderation scores were 23.7 ± 5.3 and 13.4 ± 2.6. The moderation score significantly predicted child BMIz (β= -0.23, p= 0.03) while the adequacy score did not (β= 0.08, p= 0.14). For maternal BMI, no significant associations to either score – moderation (β= -0.07, p= 0.90) or adequacy (β = 0.02, p = 0.95) – were found.

Conclusions: This study illustrates that an HFE containing fewer moderation foods was associated with lower child BMIz: a 1-point increase in the HI3 moderation score (which is higher with fewer moderation foods) was associated with a .23 decrease in child BMIz. Lack of HFE relationships to maternal weight status may be due to mothers eating away from home or reserving moderation foods for their children - more research is needed. Overall, these findings contribute to the larger understanding of how food group availability may impact maternal and child weight status.

Funding Sources: USDA AFRI NIFA Grant # 2015-68001-23240