Obesity has emerged as a worldwide problem over the last three decades, and is now regarded as an epidemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). This problem includes children and adolescents, and has even been shown to extend to infants under two years of age. Prior studies have shown that obesity in early life tracks through childhood to adulthood, with severe consequences for governments in terms of healthcare spending, as well as for the health of the overweight and obese individuals. This thesis therefore examines children's nutrition, and does so in the form of protein intake, since previous studies have found that a high protein intake during early infancy (up to 2 years of age) is strongly associated both with accelerated early growth and an increased risk of overweight and obesity during later childhood. The thesis has three main objectives: 1) to describe and evaluate changes in dietary patterns (with a particular emphasis on protein intake) in the early stages of life; 2) to examine the associations between dietary intakes (with a particular emphasis on protein intake) and weight status, from the complimentary feeding period through to later childhood and then (in one study) through to adolescence; and 3) to compare the mean protein intake of infants and older children through to adolescence with several different national and international reference values for protein.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:636801 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Alzaheb, Riyadh |
| Publisher | Glasgow Caledonian University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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