Excess consumption of highly processed foods may be associated with lower diet quality and obesity prevalence, but few studies have examined these relationships in children from low-income households. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between food consumption by processing category, diet quality as measured by the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015) and body mass index (BMI) in a sample of low-income children. Data from a study assessing the impact of Summer Food Service participation on diet quality and weight status (N = 131) was used to conduct a cross-sectional analysis of children aged six to twelve years from low-income communities in the Northeastern U.S. Total HEI-2015 score and percentage of calories consumed by processing level were computed per day from three 24-h diet recalls. Multivariable linear regression was used to assess the relationship between percentage of calories from foods by processing category (unprocessed and minimally, basic, moderately and highly processed), HEI-2015 and BMI-z score. The final sample was 58% male and 33.8% obese. On average, children consumed 39.8 ± 17.2% of calories from highly processed foods. A 10% increase in calories consumed from highly processed foods was associated with a 2.0 point decrease in total HEI-2015 score [95% CI (-2.7, -1.2)], and a 10% increase in calories from minimally processed foods was associated with a 3.0 increase in HEI-2015 score [95% CI (2.1, 3.8)]. Relationships between processing level and BMI-z score were not significant. Among this sample of low-income children, greater intake of highly processed foods was associated with lower dietary quality, but not weight status. Future research should explore prospective associations between food consumption by processing category and weight status in children.

中文翻译：

---

在低收入和多种族小学生的样本中，加工食品的消费与饮食质量有关，但与体重状况无关


过度食用精加工食品可能与饮食质量下降和肥胖患病率有关，但很少有研究探讨低收入家庭儿童的这些关系。因此，本研究的目的是评估低收入儿童样本中按加工类别划分的食品消费、2015 年健康饮食指数 (HEI-2015) 衡量的饮食质量和体重指数 (BMI) 之间的关系。一项评估参加夏季食品服务对饮食质量和体重状况影响的研究 (N = 131) 的数据用于对美国东北部低收入社区 6 至 12 岁儿童进行横断面分析-2015 年的分数和按加工水平消耗的卡路里百分比是根据每天 3 次 24 小时饮食回忆计算得出的。使用多变量线性回归来评估按加工类别（未加工和最低限度、基本、中等和高度加工）的食物卡路里百分比、HEI-2015 和 BMI-z 评分之间的关​​系。最终样本中 58% 为男性，33.8% 为肥胖。平均而言，儿童从精加工食品中消耗了 39.8 ± 17.2% 的卡路里。高度加工食品消耗的卡路里增加 10% 与 HEI-2015 总分下降 2.0 分相关 [95% CI (-2.7, -1.2)]，而来自最低加工食品的卡路里增加 10% 也与此相关HEI-2015 分数提高了 3.0 [95% CI (2.1, 3.8)]。加工水平和 BMI-z 评分之间的关​​系不显着。在这些低收入儿童样本中，大量摄入高度加工食品与较低的饮食质量有关，但与体重状况无关。 未来的研究应探讨按加工类别划分的食品消费与儿童体重状况之间的前瞻性关联。