Relationship Between Sugar Consumption and Body Mass Index Among School Aged Children

Objective: to evaluate the relationship between body mass index (bmi) and sugar consumption among school aged children.material and method: study population consisted of 262 school children aged between 7-12 years. the mean(±sd) age of children is 9.5±1.8 years. general information of children and their parents were investigated by a questionnaire and children’s dietary consumption was evaluated with 24 hour dietary record. height (m) and weight (kg) measurements were taken and bmi was calculated, then compared with the reference of who 2007 for 5-19 years. dietary record was calculated with bebis computer programme. statistical analysis was carried out using the statistical package for social sciences, spss15.0.results: the mean bmi of children was 17.3 ± 2.5 kg/m^2. the children were divided into three groups as low weight (%17.9), normal weight (%65.3) and overweight/obese (%16.8). there was a significant differences in the frequency of sugar consumption between the bmi groups (p<0.05) and also bmi was positively correlated with sugar consumption (r:0.148,p:0.016). according to bmi classification difference was found in energy intake from sugar (p<0.05), but not with total energy (p>0.05). there was no significant difference was found in sugar consumption, energy from sugar, total energy with gender (p>0.05).conclusion: in our study we found that depending on increased concumption of sugar and sweets the energy intake from sugars and bmi values are increased. obesity is one of the major health problems should be avoided in children. children should acquire healthy eating habits from a young age with improving school nutrition programs.