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Validity, Reliability, and Sensitivity of the d13C Added Sugar Biomarker in Children and Adolescents

Currently, 17.1% of 2-19 year olds are obese. While obesity is a multifactorial disease, energy imbalance is commonly cited as a primary etiology. Excess consumption of added sugar (AS) from corn and cane sweeteners has been implicated as a leading contributor to weight gain in youth and adults. Children and adolescents are among the highest consumers of AS, which account for 16% of their total daily calories (~318 calories/d), which is above American Heart Association, World Health Organization, and Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommendations. Although a strong temporal relationship has been established between weight gain and increased consumption of corn and cane sweeteners, a causal relationship is difficult to determine due to the inherent limitations of self-report dietary assessments (i.e., measurement errors such as underreporting). Further, obtaining accurate dietary intake data from children and adolescents is challenging due to the high dietary variability observed in this population. To overcome the limitations of self-report dietary assessments, the Institute of Medicine has recognized the need to develop and validate objective biomarkers of dietary intake.One such biomarker is the delta (δ) 13C biomarker; preliminary studies suggest that the δ13C biomarker is a valid, objective indicator of AS intake in adults and holds promise for children and adolescents. Establishing δ13C as a valid, reliable and sensitive means for assessing habitual AS intake in children and adolescents provides valuable objective dietary information with the potential to address a pressing public health concern, which is the relationship between AS intake and health. / Master of Science

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/81182
Date20 June 2016
CreatorsMacDougall, Carly Rimmer
ContributorsHuman Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise
PublisherVirginia Tech
Source SetsVirginia Tech Theses and Dissertation
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis
FormatETD, application/pdf
RightsIn Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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