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Background: Maternal perception of child weight status in children with overweight or obesity has received a lot of attention but data on paternal perception of children from presumably healthy cohorts are lacking. Objective: We aimed to investigate paternal and maternal perception of child weight status at the age of 8 years in a cohort of 591 children from 5 European countries. Material and Methods: Included were 8-year-old children and their parents participating in the European Childhood Obesity Project (EU CHOP). Weight and height of children and parents were measured and Body Mass Index (BMI, kg/m2) was calculated. Both parents were asked to assess their perception of child weight status using Eckstein scales and their concern about child overweight. The agreement between mother and father perceptions was assessed by Cohen kappa coefficient and their relationship was analyzed by linear mixed effects models based on ordinal logistic regression, accounting for country, child gender and BMI, parental BMI, level of education, concern and type of feeding during first year of life. Results: Data from children and both parents were available for 432 girls and boys. Mean BMI was comparable in boys and girls (16.7 ± 2.31 vs. 16.9 ± 2.87 kg/m2, P = 0.55). In total, 172 children (29.3%) were overweight or obese. There was a high degree of agreement between mother and father perceptions of their child's weight status (Cohen kappa 0.77). Multivariate modelling showed that perception levels significantly increased with child BMI but were globally lower than assessed. They differed between countries, gender and types of feeding during first year of life, were influenced by education level of the father but were not related to parental BMI and concern about childhood overweight. Conclusions: The study showed no overall differences between mothers and fathers in rating their child's weight status but both parents had a propensity to underestimate their child's actual weight, particularly in boys. The EU CHOP trial registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00338689. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This cross-sectional study assesses the relationship between consumption frequencies of food items and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in European children. Methods: Out of the baseline sample ( N = 16.228) of the IDEFICS study, 6.403 children (1.315 boys aged 2 to <6, 1.908 boys aged 6 to <10, 1.204 girls aged 2 to <6 and 1.976 girls aged 6 to <10 years) had hs-CRP measured and the Children's Eating Habits Questionnaire filled, including a food frequency questionnaire. Logistic regression adjusted for body mass index z-score, education of the mother, breast-feeding and self-reported hours of physical activity in a sport club per week was conducted. Results: Mean frequency intake of raw vegetable was lower in boys ( p = 0.022 in young and p = 0.020 in old) and older girls ( p = 0.026) with high hs-CRP concentration, while in younger girls ( p = 0.008) the same occurred with the cooked vegetables. The probability of having higher hs-CRP concentration was significantly associated with having low consumption frequency of vegetables ( p = 0.004 in older boys, raw vegetables; and p = 0.0032 in younger girls, cooked vegetables). Also, honey/jam intake decreased the probability of having higher concentration of hs-CRP, whereas soft drinks with sugar, mayonnaise and cereals milled increased this probability. Conclusions: Out of all food items associated with hs-CRP, frequency intake of vegetables presented more associations across all the analysis. Findings suggest that a high-frequency intake of vegetables is inversely related to an inflammatory status in children. More studies are needed to assess the association between diet and inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]