Are parental dietary patterns associated with children’s overweight and obesity in China?

Abstract

Background: It is believed that parents have a great influence on their children's dietary behaviours. However, it is not clear whether parental food patterns are associated with children's nutritional status in China, which includes a vast territory with rich, diverse cultures. The goal of this project is to systematically study the associations between parental food intake and children's overweight and obesity in China, according to children's ages and regional differences. Methods: Based on individual food consumption data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) package in 2011, cross-sectional studies have previously been conducted to analyse the association between different categories of food intake of parents and children. The current study extends this research by directly. Results: Our analysis results show that parental food intake is highly correlated with children's food intake, with the estimated coefficients of most food intake categories being greater than 0.5. Furthermore, this association between parental food intake and children's overweight and obesity is most significant in young children, but it begins to weaken in relation to children aged between 13 and 18. Additionally, the associations between parental food intake and children's overnutrition are more significant in rural areas than they are in urban areas. Conclusions: The association between parental food intake and childhood overweight and obesity is significant, although it varies considerably according to food categories, children's ages and area differences. These results show promise for intervening in the overnutrition of children by controlling household dietary patterns according to children's developmental stages and regional differences.

Combined Body Mass Index and Waist-to-Height Ratio and Its Association with Lifestyle and Health Factors among Spanish Children: The PASOS Study

“…Maternal high-quality diet was not associated with risk of obesity in offspring aged 9-14 years in mother-child pair studies conducted in the United States [47]. However, parental food intake was highly correlated with Chinese children and adolescent's food intake, although this association between parental food intake and offspring's overweight and obese was most significant in 7-12-year-old children compared to 13-18-year-old adolescents [48]. In New Zealand, higher parental diet quality was associated with lower consumption frequency of confectionary, chocolate, cakes, biscuits, and savory snacks in 9-11-year-old children [49].…”

Fast Food Intake, Emotional and Behavioral Problems among Adolescents with Overweight and Obese Problems Participating in MyBFF@school Intervention Program

“…Parents have to monitor their children's food intake and ensure they are eating healthy diet. In addition, parents should practice healthy dietary habits because parental food intakes are highly correlated with their children's food intakes especially among young children (Tang et al, 2020). Parents also have great impacts on their children's eating behaviors (Patel et al, 2018).…”

Frequency of family meals and food consumption in families at high risk of type 2 diabetes: the Feel4Diabetes-study

“…It has been found that parents’ eating habits and food preferences play an important role in shaping food intake patterns in children [ 5 ] as children consider their parents as role models. Previous studies suggested that parents who are “healthy role models” would be more likely to have children who consume healthier foods [ 6 , 7 ].…”