Objective: There is a remarkable growth in sugar-sweetened (SSB) production and obesity prevalence among school-aged children in China. This paper describes SSB consumption and its association with obesity among Chinese children aged 6–17 years in 2012. Methods: in total, 25,553 children aged 6~17 years enrolled in the China Nutrition and Health Surveillance 2010–2013 were included in this study. Data of SSB consumption frequency and quantity were obtained from a food frequency questionnaire, and the children’s nutritional status was assessed. Multivariate logistic regression was used to evaluate the association between SSB consumption and obesity status. Results: SSB intake was estimated as 181.0 g/day, occurring 2.2 times/week. Older children, males, children from urban areas, and children with higher socioeconomic status were more likely to consume SSBs. Children who consumed SSBs 1~5 times/week (12.9%) were more likely to be overweight/obesity than those who consumed SSBs less than once/week. Conclusion: SSB consumption was common among Chinese school-aged children, especially among males, older children, and children from urban areas. High consumption of SSBs was associated with a higher prevalence of overweight/obesity. Actions and plans are required to reduce SSB consumption and control childhood obesity in China.

Dietary shifts in populations undergoing rapid economic transitions have been proposed as partly contributing toward the rapid intergenerational rise in myopia prevalence; however, empirical evidence of the effect of dietary factors on myopia is limited. This study investigated the association between dietary factors and incident myopia in Chinese children aged 10–11 years. We evaluated dietary habits using a 72-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) among 7423 children. Myopic status was assessed using the “General Personal Information Questionnaire”. Principal component analysis was used to extract dietary patterns and investigate their association with myopia. After adjusting for potential confounders, participants with the highest adherence to dietary pattern A (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.66–0.92, p for trend = 0.007) and dietary pattern C (95% CI: 0.58–0.80, p for trend < 0.001) had a lower risk of myopia than participants with the least adherence. Both of these dietary patterns are characterized by high consumption of meats, aquatic product, dairy and its products, eggs, legumes, vegetables, fruits, grains, and potatoes. Our findings suggest that other environmental factors, such as those related to the dietary environment, may contribute to the development of myopia. These findings can serve as a reference for diet-related primary prevention of myopia.

Background/Objectives: The prevalence of both myopia and obesity is increasing among children and adolescents around the world. We aimed to examine the association between weight status and myopia in Chinese children and adolescents. Methods: The analysis included 35,108 participants aged 6–17 from a nationwide cross-sectional survey. Results: Our results indicated that girls with overweight and obesity had higher odds ratio (OR) of myopia and mild myopia: ages 6–8 (OR = 1.33, 95% CI: 1.01–1.76; OR = 1.71, 95% CI: 1.14–2.55) and 9–11 (OR = 1.22, 95% CI: 1.03–1.44; OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.06–1.62). Myopic boys had higher body fat percentages (BFP) at ages 6–8 (β = 1.18, 95% CI: 0.38–1.98), 9–11 (β = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.08–1.07), and 15–17 (β = 0.42, 95% CI: 0.03–0.80), and higher body mass index (BMI) at ages 9–11 (β = 0.30, 95% CI: 0.12–0.48) and 12–14 (β = 0.19, 95% CI: 0.02–0.38). Girls had higher BFP at ages 9–11 (β = 0.62, 95% CI: 0.19–1.05) and 12–14 (β =0.53, 95% CI: 0.19–0.88) and higher BMI at 9–11 (β = 0.53, 95% CI: 0.34–0.73). Furthermore, the dose–response curves revealed a significant gender- and age-specific association between BMI, BFP, and myopia odds ratio. Conclusions: the study found an association between overweight or obesity and myopia in girls aged 6–11, and indicated that high BFP and BMI are associated with myopia, varying by sex and age.

The nutritional status of rural Chinese children has improved in recent years, but their nutritional knowledge is still relatively lacking. School-based nutrition and health education was conducted for children in three counties of China from 2018 to 2020. The students in the intervention schools were given two-year nutrition and health education courses, while the control schools did not receive any intervention. Students’ nutrition knowledge, dietary intake, and dietary behaviors were collected using a questionnaire, and height and weight were measured uniformly. The nutrition knowledge score in the intervention group was increased by 1.01 and 0.64 points in the first and second years. A multilevel model was used to evaluate the intervention effects. Statistically significant interactions between groups and time were observed in nutrition knowledge, the frequency of eating breakfast, and dietary intake, including meat, eggs, milk, and vegetables (p < 0.05), but not in nutritional status. Therefore, the supplementation of school-based nutrition and health education had a positive impact on the nutrition knowledge and dietary intake of rural Chinese children.

Children in China’s poor rural areas often have insufficient protein and micronutrient intake. There is little research about the effect of milk and egg supplementation published on these children. A prospective randomized controlled trial was applied to evaluate the effect of milk and egg supplementation on the growth and fitness of poor rural primary school students in southwest China whose physical development was below national averages. A total of 955 healthy students aged 6–13 years old were recruited. The intervention group (538) received 200 g milk and 50 g braised egg at each school day, while the control group (417) kept their normal diet and received no extra supplementation. Serum vitamin D levels were measured by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. A mixed linear model with repeated measures was performed to analyze the efficacy of the supplementation. Statistically significant interactions between groups and time were seen in weight in boys, but not in girls. Significant improvement in vitamin D levels, the broad jump, and the 8 × 50 m shuttle run were observed in both genders. Therefore, the supplementation of egg and milk for two years might have a positive effect on growth and physical fitness and decreasing vitamin D deficiency in poor rural Chinese children.

Purpose: The aims of this study were to explore the differences in total body water and hydration status among Chinese children aged 6–17 years. Methods: A cross-sectional study was implemented among children aged 6–17 years in China. The total body water (TBW), intracellular water (ICW), and extracellular water (ECW) were determined by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). The participants were divided according to age—age 6–8 years, age 9–11 years, age 12–14 years, age 15–17 years—and body mass index (BMI) of China—underweight, normal weight, overweight, and obese groups. The differences of variables of groups were compared using analysis of variance, Student’s t-test, and Kruskal–Wallis test. Significance levels were set at 0.05 (p < 0.05). Results: A total of 59,643 participants (30,103 males and 29,540 females) completed the study. As children became older, the TBW, ICW, ECW, ICW/TBW, and TBW/FFM (TBW to fat free mass ratio) increased simultaneously (all p < 0.05); concurrently, the ECW/TBW decreased with age (all p < 0.05). Boys had higher TBW, ICW, ECW, ICW/TBW, TBW/BW, and TBW/FFM than those of girls at each age (all p < 0.05). For all BMI groups, increases in TBW, ICW, ECW were observed from the underweight group to the obese group, both in boys and girls (all p < 0.001). For the increase in BMI in all age groups, the values of TBW made a significantly lower percentage compared to BW. The higher BMI groups showed higher levels of TBW/FFM, both in girls and boys (all p < 0.001). Conclusions: The body water contents of children aged 6–17 years varied according to their age, sex, and BMI. Overweight and obese individuals may have inferior hydration status compared to those with normal weight.