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Cardiovascular damage could begin early in life. Our aim was to examine the current state of the art related to micronutrient supplementation on vascular health in obese and overweight children. We considered only the studies performed over the past few years.Vitamin D supplementation in the obese pediatric population with vitamin D deficiency could improve the vascular health of these subjects. The evidence is less clear on supplementation with other micronutrients. Zinc supplementation is currently the most supported by the literature.As of today, we can only speculate that supplementation with other micronutrients could improve the vascular health of obese and overweight children. Strong limitations are the different instrumental methods used to assess vascular health in obese children and adolescents under micronutrients supplementation. Actually, indirect indicators more reliable to evaluate vascular health seem to be lipid profile and insulin sensitivity. Furthermore, there is a particular lack of studies in this area in recent years, especially in the pediatric population. Additional studies performed in this population should be pursued to clarify significant relationships between micronutrients and vascular health.

Background Existing research has documented inconsistent findings for the associations among breakfast frequency, physical activity (PA), and sedentary time in children. The primary aim of this study was to examine the associations among breakfast frequency and objectively-measured PA and sedentary time in a sample of children from 12 countries representing a wide range of human development, economic development and inequality. The secondary aim was to examine interactions of these associations between study sites. Methods This multinational, cross-sectional study included 6228 children aged 9–11 years from the 12 International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and the Environment sites. Multilevel statistical models were used to examine associations between self-reported habitual breakfast frequency defined using three categories (breakfast consumed 0 to 2 days/week [rare], 3 to 5 days/week [occasional] or 6 to 7 days/week [frequent]) or two categories (breakfast consumed less than daily or daily) and accelerometry-derived PA and sedentary time during the morning (wake time to 1200 h) and afternoon (1200 h to bed time) with study site included as an interaction term. Model covariates included age, sex, highest parental education, body mass index z-score, and accelerometer waking wear time. Results Participants averaged 60 (s.d. 25) min/day in moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), 315 (s.d. 53) min/day in light PA and 513 (s.d. 69) min/day sedentary. Controlling for covariates, breakfast frequency was not significantly associated with total daily or afternoon PA and sedentary time. For the morning, frequent breakfast consumption was associated with a higher proportion of time in MVPA (0.3%), higher proportion of time in light PA (1.0%) and lower min/day and proportion of time sedentary (3.4 min/day and 1.3%) than rare breakfast consumption (all p ≤ 0.05). No significant associations were found when comparing occasional with rare or frequent breakfast consumption, or daily with less than daily breakfast consumption. Very few significant interactions with study site were found. Conclusions In this multinational sample of children, frequent breakfast consumption was associated with higher MVPA and light PA time and lower sedentary time in the morning when compared with rare breakfast consumption, although the small magnitude of the associations may lack clinical relevance. Trial registration The International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and the Environment (ISCOLE) is registered at (Identifier NCT01722500 ).

Level of evidence and grade of recommendations according to the National Guidelines System [4]. (DOCX 15Â kb)

Growth and development are key characteristics of childhood and sensitive markers of health and adequate nutrition. The first 1000 days of life—conception through 24 months of age—represent a fundamental period for development and thus the prevention of childhood obesity and its adverse consequences is mandatory. There are many growth drivers during this complex phase of life, such as nutrition, genetic and epigenetic factors, and hormonal regulation. The challenge thus involves maximizing the potential for normal growth without increasing the risk of associated disorders. The Mediterranean Nutrition Group (MeNu Group), a group of researchers of the Mediterranean Region, in this Special Issue titled “Prevent Obesity in the First 1000 Days”, presented results that advanced the science of obesity risk factors in early life, coming both from animal model studies and studies in humans. In the future, early-life intervention designs for the prevention of pediatric obesity will need to look at different strategies, and the MeNu Group is available for guidance regarding an appropriate conceptual framework to accomplish either prevention or treatment strategies to tackle pediatric obesity.

Table of contents A1 Preterm and low birth weight nutrition in the first month life: implications for the outcome Massimo Agosti A2 Behind human milk and breastfeeding: not only food, not only growth Carlo Agostoni A3 To prevent obesity: importance and issues of cultural adaptation from weaning to 3 years of age Serge Chalons A4 Diet before and during pregnancy and child health: lessons from animal models Pascale Chavatte-Palmer A5 Infant nutrition: an opportunity to optimize future health José Manuel Moreno Villares A6 Complementary feeding strategies to facilitate acceptance of fruits and vegetables Sophie Nicklaus A7 Diet of young children in the Mediterranean region Luís Pereira-da-Silva A8 Proposal of 10 good practices to help prevent obesity in the first 1,000 days Angelo Pietrobelli, the MeNu Group A9 Macronutrient intakes in early life and subsequent risk of obesity Marie Françoise Rolland-Cachera A10 The burden of childhood obesity in Italy and the results of Nutrintake study Gian Vincenzo Zuccotti A11 Growth body composition and growth hormone therapy: linear growth Marco Cappa A12 Early nutrition pattern and late metabolic consequences Manuela Caruso-Nicoletti A13 Nutrition and Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF) System Elena Inzaghi, Stefano Cianfarani A14 Nutrition of preterm infants Mario De Curtis A15 Early nutrition patterns and later metabolic outcomes- I part: Genetic and metabolic mechanisms Laura Guazzarotti A16 Diagnosis of metabolic disease by imaging techniques Lorenzo Iughetti A17 Nutrition, growth and cardiovascular diseases Francesco Chiarelli, Laura Comegna, Simone Franchini A18 Body fat mass and gender Laura Perrone, Giuseppina Rosaria Umano A19 Lifestyle interventions for an appropriate birth weight Elisabetta Petrella, Raffaele Bruno, Valentina Bertarini, Giulia Pedrielli, Isabella Neri, Fabio Facchinetti A20 Nutrition, growth and body composition Flavia Prodam A21 Nation-specific reference growth charts in the daily practice Alessandro Sartorio, John M. H. Buckler, Nicoletta Marazzi A22 Growth patterns in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and in cystic fibrosis (CF) Maria E. Street, Viviana D. Patianna, Paola Accorsi, Sara Lo Scocco, Sergio Amarri A23 Newborn in the digital era and their body feeling: physical exercise to counteract hyperphagia Alberto Pellai A24 Nutrition, young athletes and effects of exercise. Practical suggestions Giampiero Merati A25 Physical exercise as a way to prevent criminality in minors and teenagers Isabella Merzagora A26 The measurement of daily energy expenditure in children. Evaluation of a new wrist portable device vs breath-by-breath metabolimeter Susanna Rampichini, Arsenio Veicsteinas A27 Probiotic and inflammasomes Mario Clerici A28 Probiotics and newborns Paolo Manzoni, Elena Tavella, Elena Boano, Daniele Farina A29 Relationship between gut microbiota and obesity Fabio Pace

Restrictive feeding is associated with child overweight; however, the majority of studies used parent-report questionnaires.The relationship between child adiposity measures and directly observed parent and child behaviours were tested using a novel behavioural coding system (BCS).Data from 109 children, participants in a twin study and their mothers, were analyzed. Parent-child dyads were video-recorded twice in the laboratory, while children ate ad libitum from a buffet lunch. Mother and child behaviours were assessed using the BCS. Height, body weight and body fat were directly measured for each child. Associations between child adiposity measures and average BCS behaviour (i.e. pooled across visits) were tested using partial correlations adjusting for child age.Regarding discouragement prompts, child body mass index (BMI) z-score was significantly associated with a greater rate of total discouragements (per minute, minHeavier children received greater maternal discouragements to eat and, with qualifications, encouragements to eat. The role of nonverbal parenting cues warrants further research regarding child eating regulation and obesity.

Waist circumferences (WCs) in white men and women that represent a risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) equivalent to that of body mass indexes (BMIs; in kg/m2) of 25 and 30 have been identified. However, WC cutoffs for other race-ethnicity groups remain unknown.The objective was to determine WC cutoffs for CVD risk in non-Hispanic blacks (blacks), Mexican Americans (MA), and non-Hispanic whites (whites).Data from 10,969 participants in the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988-1994) were analyzed. The presence of CVD risk factors was the main outcome. Sex- and race-ethnicity-specific WC cutoffs were determined with logistic regression models by linking WC cutoffs with equivalent CVD risk based on BMI cutoffs for overweight and obesity. WC cutoffs for metabolic syndrome risk factors were similarly calculated.Correlations between WC and lipid profiles, blood pressure, and glucose were significantly higher than those between BMI and these same variables in all groups. The WC cutoffs were approximately 5-6 cm greater for white than for black men at BMIs between 25 and 40, and those for MA were intermediate. In women, few differences in WC cutoffs were observed between the groups. Simplified WC cutoffs corresponding to BMIs of 25 and 30, largely independent of age, for the 3 race-ethnicity groups were 89 and 101 cm for men and 83 and 94 cm for women. Minimal distances in receiver operating characteristic curves tended to be shorter when WC cutoffs rather than BMI cutoffs were used.WC is a better indicator of CVD risk than is BMI in the 3 race-ethnicity groups studied. The proposed WC cutoffs are more sensitive than are BMI cutoffs in predicting CVD risk.

Background Although ‘unhealthy’ diet is a well-known risk factor for non-communicable diseases, its relationship with socio-economic status (SES) has not been fully investigated. Moreover, the available research has largely been conducted in countries at high levels of human development. This is the first study to examine relationships among dietary patterns and SES of children from countries spanning a wide range of human development. Methods This was a multinational cross-sectional study among 9–11 year-old children (n = 6808) from urban/peri-urban sites across 12 countries. Self-reported food frequency questionnaires were used to determine the children’s dietary patterns. Principal Components Analysis was employed to create two component scores representing ‘unhealthy’ and ‘healthy’ dietary patterns. Multilevel models accounting for clustering at the school and site level were used to examine the relationships among dietary patterns and SES. Results The mean age of participants in this study (53.7% girls) was 10.4 years. Largest proportions of total variance in dietary patterns occurred at the individual, site, and school levels (individual, school, site: 62.8%; 10.8%; 26.4% for unhealthy diet pattern (UDP) and 88.9%; 3.7%; 7.4%) for healthy diet pattern (HDP) respectively. There were significant negative ‘unhealthy’ diet-SES gradients in 7 countries and positive ‘healthy’ diet-SES gradients in 5. Within country diet-SES gradients did not significantly differ by HDI. Compared to participants in the highest SES groups, unhealthy diet pattern scores were significantly higher among those in the lowest within-country SES groups in 8 countries: odds ratios for Australia (2.69; 95% CI: 1.33–5.42), Canada (4.09; 95% CI: 2.02–8.27), Finland (2.82; 95% CI: 1.27–6.22), USA (4.31; 95% CI: 2.20–8.45), Portugal (2.09; 95% CI: 1.06–4.11), South Africa (2.77; 95% CI: 1.22–6.28), India (1.88; 95% CI: 1.12–3.15) and Kenya (3.35; 95% CI: 1.91–5.87). Conclusions This study provides evidence of diet-SES gradients across all levels of human development and that lower within-country SES is strongly related to unhealthy dietary patterns. Consistency in within-country diet-SES gradients suggest that interventions and public health strategies aimed at improving dietary patterns among children may be similarly employed globally. However, future studies should seek to replicate these findings in more representative samples extended to more rural representation. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-017-4383-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.