Predictive associations between lifestyle behaviours and dairy consumption: the IDEFICS study

Abstract Background Physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviours (SB) are related with obesity and cardio-metabolic risk, however the literature is controversial regarding the effect of dairy consumption on the development of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) risk factors. Aim To assess longitudinally the relationship between specific lifestyle behaviours (PA and SB) and dairy consumption in a sample of European children and adolescents. Methods Children from the IDEFICS study were included in the analyses. Two measurements, with 2 years’ interval, were conducted. 1 688 (50.8% boys) children provided information regarding diet, measured by a 24-hour dietary recall, PA measured by accelerometers, and parental reported sedentary screen time (SST) at both time points. Different combinations of these behaviours, at each survey and over time, were derived applying specific recommendations. Multilevel ordinal logistic regression and analysis of covariance were used to assess their association with dairy consumption, adjusted for potential confounders. Results Differences by gender were found regarding dairy products consumption and also adherence to SB and PA recommendations at T0 and T1. Children meeting both lifestyle recommendations, at both measurements’ points, had higher probability to consume more milk and yogurt and less cheese, in comparison with the rest of combinations. Conclusions These results suggest that European children with a healthy lifestyle, specifically regarding PA and SB over time, consumed more milk and yogurt. This study suggests that the protective effect of specific dairy products found in literature could be partially due to the association of their consumption with specific healthy lifestyles.