Children's growth parameters vary by type of fruit juice consumed

Background: Excessive fruit juice consumption in young children has been as sociated with nonorganic failure to thrive and short stature in some childr en and with obesity in others. Objective: To evaluate, in a sample of healthy young children, whether the associations between fruit juice intakes and growth parameters differ by th e type of fruit juice consumed. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: General primary care health center in upstate New York. Participants: One hundred sixteen two-year-old children and one hundred sev en five-year-old children, who were scheduled for a nonacute visit, and the ir primary care-takers or parents were recruited over a two-year period. Methods: For 163 children (73% of total), 14 days of dietary records were a vailable. The dietary records were entered and analyzed using the Nutrition Data System (NDS). Type of fruit juice was classified according to Nutriti on Coordinating Center food codes. Height was measured using a Harpenden St adiometer. Weight was measured using a standard balance beam scale. Results: The children consumed, on average, 5.5 fluid oz/day of fruit juice s, which were classified by the NDS software as 35% apple juice, 31% orange juice, 25% grape juice and 9% other types and/or mixtures of fruit juice. Children with higher fruit juice intakes had lower total fat, saturated fat and cholesterol intakes. Child height was inversely related to apple juice intake (p=0.007) and grape juice intake (p=0.02), after adjustment for chi ld age, gender and energy intake (excluding fruit juice) and maternal heigh t. Apple juice intake was correlated with child body mass index (p<0.05) an d ponderal index (p<0.005), after adjustment for the above covariates. Tota l cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, triglyceride and lipoprotein(a) levels were not related to intakes of any of the fruit juices examined. The children's ratios of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol were correlated with grape juice intakes, while HDL-cholesterol levels were inversely related to grape juice intakes. There were no significant relationships between fruit juice intake and measures of anemia (hematocrit or mean corpuscular volume). Conclusions: The previously reported associations between short stature and high intakes of fruit juice were observed for intakes of both apple juice and grape juice. The associations between high fruit juice intakes and obes ity were observed with apple juice intakes only. Because most of the fruit juice mixtures were classified as single fruit juices, the findings, especi ally those with grape juice, need to be cautiously interpreted. High intake s of fruit juice, however, appear to be associated with growth extremes in young children. Thus, it would seem prudent for parents and caretakers to m oderate the fruit juice intakes of their young children.