47 - Relationship between Caregiver-Reported Child Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Skin Carotenoids Levels and Their Association with Food Insecurity

Poster Number: 47
Publication Number: 47.253

Sarah Y. Lee, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center College of Medicine, Brooklyn, NY, United States; Rachel S. Gross, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States; Christina N. Kim, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States; Mary Jo Messito, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States

Background: Objective ways to measure fruit and vegetable consumption (FVC) are needed, especially for children with food insecurity (FI), because the association between FI and FVC is inconsistent.  Although the Veggie Meter® (VM), a non-invasive tool to measure skin carotenoids, has been proposed as an objective measure of FVC, the association between caregiver-reported child FVC and VM score has not been well studied.

Objective: To study the relationship between caregiver-reported FVC and VM-measured skin β-carotene level in low-income, Hispanic school-aged children and examine associations between FI and FVC measured by caregiver-report and VM score.

Design/Methods: We performed a cross-sectional analysis using data from the 8-year old follow-up assessment of the Starting Early Program (StEP) randomized control trial of an obesity prevention program for low-income, Hispanic mother-child dyads. Caregiver-reported FVC was assessed using the Fruit and Vegetable Intake Screener from Eating at America's Table Survey, assessing juice, fruit, lettuce salad, French fries, other white potatoes, dried beans, other vegetables, tomato sauce, and vegetable soups. Juice, french fries, and white potatoes were excluded when calculating total daily FVC since they are low in β-carotene. VM score was obtained as an average of 3 skin β-carotene measurements (a continuous score of 0-800; higher scores indicate higher FVC consumption). FI was assessed using the USDA Core Food Security Module (score of 0-2 as food secure; ≥3 as food insecure). Correlation and linear regression were used to study the associations between: 1) caregiver-reported FVC and VM score; 2) FI and caregiver-reported FVC or VM score, adjusting for child sex, child BMI, maternal education level, maternal country of origin, StEP participation.

Results: Analyses included 187 mother-child dyads. Baseline characteristics are in Table 1. Caregiver-reported FVC was positively associated with VM scores in both unadjusted and adjusted analyses (Table 2). Caregiver-reported FVC was significantly higher for those with FI compared to those with food security in unadjusted, but not in adjusted analyses; VM score was not significantly different by food insecurity status (Table 3).

Conclusion(s): The VM is a feasible non-invasive tool to measure skin carotenoids in children and correlated with caregiver-reported FVC. Inconsistency between caregiver-reported FVC and VM score by FI status highlights the need for objective methods to assess key diet factors, particularly for children experiencing FI, who have high rate of diet-related conditions such as obesity and diabetes.