Table 3.

Association of dietary factors with BMI^a for home caregivers of Alaska Native (Yup’ik) preschoolers aged 3–5 years enrolled in Head Start who participated in the “Got Neqpiaq?” study in Southwest Alaska (N = 144)

Dietary factor	Healthy weight, n = 41 (30%)	Overweight, n = 48 (35%)	Obese, n = 49 (35%)	Continuous BMI, estimatee (95% CI)	p
Traditional food intake biomarkerb (‰), mean (SD)	8.8 (1.0)	9.4 (1.1)	9.6 (1.2)	1.57 (0.45, 2.68)	.006
Processed food intake biomarkerc (‰), mean (SD)	− 17.3 (0.8)	− 17.3 (0.7)	− 17.2 (0.7)	0.74 (− 1.07, 2.55)	.42
Vegetable and fruit intake biomarkerd, mean (SD)	189 (77)	186 (71)	161 (58)	− 0.02 (− 0.04, − 0.004)	.02

Three adults were dropped for having an underweight BMI, and three were dropped for missing data on BMI

BMI body mass index, SD standard deviation, CI confidence interval

^aTraditional food intake was measured using the NIR, expressed as permil (‰) relative abundance of heavy isotope (δ¹⁵N = (¹⁵N/¹⁴N sample − ¹⁵N/¹⁴Nstd)/(¹⁵N/¹⁴Nstd) • 1000‰), where the standard is atmospheric nitrogen. In a validation study, hair NIR values ranged from 6.9‰ to 15.2‰ and corresponded to diets where the percent of energy from marine mammals and fish ranged from 0 to 57%

^bProcessed food intake was measured using the CIR, expressed as permil (‰) relative abundance of heavy isotope (δ¹³C = (¹³C/¹²Csample − ¹³C/¹²Cstd)/(¹³C/¹²Cstd) • 1000‰) where the standard is Vienna Pee Dee Belemnite

^cVegetable and fruit intake was evaluated as skin carotenoid status which was measured using the Veggie Meter. Skin carotenoid status is a unit-less measure that ranges from 0 to 800 and represents intake from approximately the past 8 weeks

^dBMI was calculated as weight (kg)/height (m)² and healthy weight, overweight, and obese classifications were grouped according to the standard definitions according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

^eEstimates were generated using linear regression adjusted for all dietary factors, birth mother indicator, caregiver education, annual household income, Yup’ik cultural identity, Kass’aq (white) cultural identity, food assistance participation, and an indicator for the number of children for each caregiver