Assessing health disparities in foods and beverages served in early care and education programs across Georgia.

Kear, Kathryn; Stotz, Sarah; Love, Kim; Cox, Ginnefer O; Birch, Leann L; Cotwright, Caree J

BACKGROUND Obesity disproportionately impacts children who are Black and Hispanic, those who live in rural communities and those who have low income. Predisposition to obesity early in life is profoundly impacted by feeding habits during the preschool years. The early care and education (ECE) setting impacts children's health by providing daily meals. OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to identify whether or not health disparities in foods and beverages served in ECE programs in Georgia exist based on socioeconomic, demographic and geographic variables. METHODS A random sample was drawn from 3054 ECE programs across the state of Georgia. The likelihood of serving specific foods and beverages in ECE programs in the previous day was measured. Percentages and frequencies, logistic regressions, Spearman's rho and Odds ratio tests determined outcomes. RESULTS A total of 974 surveys were returned. Data were stratified based on the income level of the participant families, race of enrolled children and geographic location of the ECE program. Disparities existed between programs based on race of enrolled children and geographic location. For example, although the odds of providing sweets increased by 0.6% as the percentage of Black children enrolled increased, the provision of healthier foods, such as the odds of providing fruits (P = .001), vegetables (P = .001) and protein (P = .001) also increased. However, after results were adjusted for covariates findings did not remain significant. CONCLUSIONS Future research focused on evaluating the foods and beverages provided in ECE programs and the relationship of how income, race and location are related may provide further understanding about the disproportionate childhood obesity rates in America.