Indulgent Feeding Style Moderates the Association of Food Responsiveness to Body Mass Index Z-scores of Preschoolers.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the moderating role of caregiver feeding styles in the association between preschool children's food-approaching eating behaviors and body mass index (BMI) z-scores. METHODS: This cross-sectional study examined 81 caregiver-preschooler dyads from low-income neighborhoods in Santiago, Chile. Moderated multiple linear regression analyses were used to determine the moderating effect of the indulgent feeding style in the relation between eating behaviors and BMI z-scores of preschool children. RESULTS: The indulgent caregiver feeding style moderated the association between food responsiveness and BMI z-scores of preschoolers. In an indulgent feeding style, food responsiveness was associated with higher child BMI z-scores (ß = 0.50; P < 0.001). There was no interaction between enjoyment of food and feeding styles in relation to children's BMI z-scores (ß = 0.17; P = 0.58). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: An indulgent feeding style can be a risk factor for unhealthy weight outcomes in food responsive preschoolers, but not in those who enjoy food. Educating indulgent parents in the feeding context, and prioritizing children with food-approaching behaviors who are sensitive to external food cues may be effective for approaching childhood obesity.

Is Acculturation Associated with the Cognitive Performance of Older Hispanics?

BACKGROUND: Hispanics in the United States are disproportionately affected by Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. Little is known about the impact of acculturation on cognitive performance. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the association between acculturation and cognitive performance among older Hispanics. METHODS: We analyzed cross-sectional data of 616 Hispanic participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011-2014 [average age = 67.15 years, %Female = 51.46, %less than high-school graduate = 52.60]. Cognitive performance was measured by two neuropsychological tests: Animal Fluency Test (AFT) and Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST). We used two single-item proxy measures to quantify acculturation: nativity status (non-US-born residing < 15 years in the US (low acculturation), non-US-born residing ≥15 years in the US, and US-born (high acculturation)); and language acculturation (only/mostly Spanish (low acculturation), Spanish and English, only/mostly English (high acculturation)). We used adjusted linear regression to evaluate associations between acculturation and cognitive performance. RESULTS: Results indicated poorer cognitive performance among the low-acculturated groups for both nativity and linguistic measures. Participants who were non-US-born living ≥15 years (p = 0.02) and speaking only/mostly Spanish or Spanish and English (p = 0.01 and 0.006 respectively) had significantly lower AFT scores compared to US-born and only/mostly English-speaking groups. Participants who were non-US-born living < 15 years (p < 0.0001) or non-US-born living ≥15 years (p < 0.0001) and speaking only/mostly Spanish (p = 0.0008) scored lower on the DSST than the US-born and only/mostly English-speaking participants. CONCLUSION: In summary, low acculturation is associated with poorer cognitive performance among older Hispanics. Acculturation might be an important attribute to help understand cognitive decline and dementias among Hispanics.