Ready-to-eat-cereal intake and long term body weight status among children and adolescents – results of the DONALD Study

Abstract The aim of this study is to analyse the association between RTEC (Ready-To-Eat-Cereals) intake and long-term changes in Standard Deviation Score of Body Mass Index (BMI-SDS) and Fat Mass Index (FMI) among children and adolescents in Germany. Overall, 4,920 3-day dietary records and anthropometric measurements of 721 DONALD (Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed Study) participants (3.5–18.5 years; boys: 52%) kept in 2004–2018 were analysed using polynomial mixed-effects regression models. There was no statistically significant association between RTEC or RTEC meal intake and BMI-SDS as well as FMI, probably due to the overall low RTEC intake.