Dairy Consumption and Associations with Nutritional Status of Chinese Children and Adolescents

Objective This study aimed to describe frequency and quantity of total dairy consumption of Chinese children and adolescents and explore the associations between dairy consumption and nutrition status, including stunting, wasting, overweight, and obesity. Methods Participants included 28,250 children and adolescents aged 6-17 years old. A food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) including 100 kinds of food was used to collect information about frequency and quantity of dairy consumption. Determination of stunting was with a height cutoff value for age and gender, and determination for wasting, overweight, and obesity was with BMI for age and gender. Results Of the total sample, 36.1% of children aged 6-17 reported consuming dairy food more than once per day (>= 1/day). The average total dairy intake of all the participants was 126.7 g/day. For boys, dairy consumption had an inverse correlation with stunting and wasting after controlling for confounders. For girls, dairy consumption was negatively associated with stunting and obesity after controlling for confounders as above. Conclusion Dairy consumption in Chinese children and adolescents was relatively lower than that in developed countries, and was negatively associated with stunting and wasting for boys and with stunting and obesity for girls.