Thursday November 15

Low-Fat Diets Can Cut Children's Nutrient Intake
By Suzanne Rostler

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Well-intentioned parents who limit their child's dietary fat in the name of good health may be depriving their growing son or daughter of essential nutrients, researchers report.

Their study of children with and without high cholesterol found that unsupervised, parent-imposed low-fat diets were also lower in zinc and vitamin E compared with diets that did not restrict fat. Zinc is a mineral that is essential for growth and development and helps the immune system fight infectious diseases. Vitamin E, an important antioxidant vitamin, may also protect against certain diseases.

``Without formal nutritional counseling, parents of children with (high cholesterol) may inadvertently overrestrict calories in their children's diet by attempting to eliminate obvious sources of dietary fat,'' Dr. Abha Kaistha from Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City and colleagues write.

In an interview with Reuters Health, Dr. Sarah C. Couch, a co-author on the study, said that previous research has demonstrated that low-fat diets can be safe for children. However, ``there are clinical reports of children who have grown poorly while following unsupervised low-fat, low-calorie diets,'' added Couch, who is from the University of Cincinnati in Ohio.

Many foods that contain zinc and vitamin E are also rich in fat and saturated fat, including oils, milk, meat and eggs, the researchers explain in the November issue of the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

The investigators compared the 3-day food diaries of 34 children with normal cholesterol and 46 with high cholesterol. Before consulting a nutritionist, parents of the children with high cholesterol had reduced their fat intake to about 23% of daily calories and limited their intake of saturated fat to about 8% of calories a day. In comparison, the children with normal cholesterol consumed 17% more calories overall, of which about 35% came from fat and 13% from saturated fat.

Children with high cholesterol also consumed significantly more sugar as a result of higher intakes of carbohydrate-rich foods, which tend to be lower in fat. In both groups of children, whose average age was 10, intakes of calcium and folate were below national guidelines.

Kaistha and colleagues conclude that parents should not impose dietary restrictions on children, including those with high cholesterol, without the help of a trained professional.

``Parents of children with newly diagnosed (high cholesterol) should be strongly encouraged to seek immediate guidance from a registered dietitian after receiving the diagnosis,'' the researchers suggest.

Similarly, they warn pediatricians that a diagnosis of high cholesterol and a recommendation to parents to begin cutting back on fat in their child's diet could result in nutrient deficiencies.

SOURCE: Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine 2001;155:1225-1230.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/200...children_2.html