Interrelationships among food intake, somatic traits, and physical fitness in 10.5- to 15.5-year old children from Eastern Poland.

Abstract

The aim of the study was to establish the relationships between energy intake and dietary quality with somatic variables and physical fitness. Energy intake and nutrition quality were assessed from 24-hr dietary recall questionnaires, and physical fitness was measured by applying the EIROFIT tests. Interrelationships between all those variables (simple, partial, and multiple correlation coefficients) were computed from standardized values. The somatic and physical fitness variables related more strongly on the nutrition quality than on the energy intake. Well-nourished children were taller, heavier, and more physically fit than the poorly nourished ones. We believe that dietary quality affected physical fitness indirectly by influencing somatic development. Energy intake did not contribute significantly to the total variance of the physical fitness factor.