Language Spoken at Home and Preschooler Dietary Quality at Early Care and Education Facilities that Serve Children from Families with Low Income.

Abstract

Objective: Examine the association between language spoken at home and diet quality in preschoolers with low income.

Design: Cross-sectional secondary data analysis.

Setting: Early care and education (ECE) (n = 26) facilities participating in the Child and Adult Care Food Program in neighborhoods with low income and a high Hispanic population.

Participants: Children and their parents (n = 169 dyads).

Main outcomes measures: We observed children's dietary intake for 1 full ECE day and used the National Data System for Research database to extract the following diet quality variables: daily energy intake, total fat, saturated fat, added sugars, sodium, and servings of fruits and vegetables.

Analysis: Mixed-effects linear and logistic regression models treated diet quality measures as separate outcomes.

Results: Children from English-speaking homes consumed 7.4 g more total fat and 2.5 g more saturated fatty acids during the ECE than those from Spanish-speaking homes. Children in English-speaking homes consumed more sodium than those in bilingual and Spanish-speaking homes (211 mg and 317 mg, respectively). Children of bilingual homes were more likely than those of Spanish-speaking homes to consume any vegetables.

Conclusions and implications: Language spoken at home (an indicator of acculturation) was related to total fat, saturated fat, and sodium intake during the ECE day. Greater energy consumption at ECE facilities may indicate improved dietary quality or overeating foods high in fat and sodium, thereby contributing to later poor health outcomes.