Parent Diet Quality and Energy Intake Are Related to Child Diet Quality and Energy Intake



Parent Diet Quality and Energy Intake Are Related to Child Diet Quality and Energy Intake

Robson, S. M., Couch, S. C., Peugh, J. L., Glanz, K., Zhou, C., Sallis, J. F., & Saelens, B. E. (2016). Parent Diet Quality and Energy Intake Are Related to Child Diet Quality and Energy Intake. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 116(6), 984-990.


The purpose of this study was to build on previous research to evaluate eating behaviors that
children adopt from their environment and observational learning. “Usual intakes from 2007 to
2010 demonstrated that the majority of children were not meeting recommendations for fruits,
vegetables, whole grains, and dairy. In fact, children were consuming large quantities of energy
from dietary components targeted for reduction, such as added sugars and solid fats” (Robson,

Couch, Peugh, Glanz, Sallis, & Saelens, p. 984, 2016).


This was a longitudinal cohort study conducted from September 2007 to January 2009 with
samples from both Washington and California. Parent -child dyads were recruited based on
neighborhood type and three types of physical activity level/nutrition environments; in addition,
those recruited had no medical conditions or chronic illnesses associated with obesity.
Six hundred and ninety-eight (n = 698) parent-child dyads participated in this study and written
consent was obtained (Robson, et al., 2016).

Multilinear regression models investigated if parent diet quality and energy intake predicted           the child diet quality and energy intake. Control for parent and child characteristic, household education, and neighborhood type prior to the regression analysis.

Parent diet quality significantly predicted child diet quality.
“Parent energy explained 9.2% of the variance in children’s energy intake independent of the other factors in the model, with the full model also including demographics and neighborhood type, accounting for 21% of child intake variance” (Robson, et al., p. 987, 2016). This supports the findings indicating that parent diet quality variables showed persistency as the strongest independent predictor.

As previously mentioned children are not meeting the recommended dietary guidelines, which has been linked to children that are overweight and obese. Children follow by example and parents have a key responsibly, which is feeding their children. The current study investigated and confirmed the association and influence that the quality of a parent’s diet has on the diet of their children. This study is a good starting point for future research on this topic for measures of intervention.


MA


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