The Effect of Modified Biscuit on Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Children and Adolescents: Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial

The trend of hyperlipidemia and obesity is increasing among children and adolescents. These age groups like to eat biscuits as an appropriate and energetic snack that may lead to obesity. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of diet biscuit consumption on anthropometric and metabolic indexes. This double blind interventional study was conducted in Isfahan Cardiovascular Research Center in 2008-2009.The participants were the children and adolescent aged 6-18 years. The population under study was 63 persons who allocated in two groups of 31 and 32 persons and followed for one year. First group used diet biscuits and the second group used non-diet and both group received diet therapy. Demographic data were obtained using questionnaire. Anthropometric characteristic including body mass Index, waist circumference and the waist to hip ratio was measured. Meanwhile blood sample was collected to measure fasting blood sugar and serum lipid profile. Collected data were analysed by statistical methods including t-test and ANCOVA. There was a significant difference in BMI before and after study in both groups (p=0.02). Although the biochemical variables decreased in both groups difference was not significant The results of this study show that using modified biscuit has no significant effect on children’s cardiovascular risk factors. Since the effect of snack modification on improvement of children health status has been proven. Additional studies need to be performed to find the best formulation and improve the health of consumers.