Table 4.

Mean differences in abdominal adiposity, indexed using waist circumference and SAD, across categories of fruit intake in U.S. children, after adjusting for the covariates.

Outcome variable	Fruit intake (percent of energy intake from fruit)
	None (n = 456)		Low (n = 623)		Moderate/High (n = 628)
	Mean	± SE	Mean	± SE	Mean	± SE	F	p
SAD (cm)
Model 1	15.9a	0.15	15.6b	0.16	15.4b	0.16	3.9	0.0283
Model 2	15.9a	0.18	15.5b	0.18	15.4b	0.21	4.0	0.0252
Model 3	15.9a	0.20	15.6b	0.18	15.3b	0.21	3.4	0.0407
Waist (cm)
Model 1	70.5a	0.65	69.0b	0.70	68.4b	0.65	3.5	0.0380
Model 2	70.2a	0.64	69.4a	0.65	68.1b	0.65	7.7	0.0013
Model 3	70.4a	0.80	68.9a	0.82	68.0b	0.84	2.9	0.0657

SAD, sagittal abdominal diameter. There were 47 df in the denominator of each model. Fruit intake was indexed as the percent of total energy derived from all fruits consumed, not including fruit juices. Means on the same row with the same superscript letter were not significantly different. Model 1 included the following covariates: age, sex, race, year of assessment, and household size. Model 2 included the Model 1 covariates and also hours of recreational computer time, physical activity, and average energy intake. Model 3 included the Model 2 covariates and also intake (grams per 1,000 kcal) of carbohydrate, protein, fat, fiber, sugar, and saturated fat. For SAD, the difference between the no fruit and low intake groups were marginally significant. For Waist, Model 1, the no fruit intake vs low, and for Model 2, the low vs moderate/high intake groups, were marginally significant. For Waist, Model 3, the relationship was marginally significant (p = 0.0657). Table values included person-level weighted adjustments based on the sampling methods of NHANES, so values represented those of the U.S. population of children, 8–11 years old.