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

Abstract

A family meal is defined as a meal consumed together by the members of a family or by having ≥ 1 parent present during a meal. The frequency of family meals has been associated with healthier food intake patterns in both children and parents. This study aimed to investigate in families at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes across Europe the association (i) between family meals’ frequency and food consumption and diet quality among parents and (ii) between family meals’ frequency and children’s food consumption. Moreover, the study aimed to elucidate the mediating effect of parental diet quality on the association between family meals’ frequency and children’s food consumption. Food consumption frequency and anthropometric were collected cross-sectionally from a representative sample of 1964 families from the European Feel4Diabetes-study. Regression and mediation analyses were applied by gender of children. Positive and significant associations were found between the frequency of family meals and parental food consumption (β = 0.84; 95% CI 0.57, 1.45) and diet quality (β = 0.30; 95% CI 0.19, 0.42). For children, more frequent family meals were significantly associated with healthier food consumption (boys, β = 0.172, p < 0.05; girls, β = 0.114, p < 0.01). A partial mediation effect of the parental diet quality was shown on the association between the frequency of family meals and the consumption of some selected food items (i.e., milk products and salty snacks) among boys and girls. The strongest mediation effect of parental diet quality was found on the association between the frequency of family breakfast and the consumption of salty snacks and milk and milk products (62.5% and 37.5%, respectively) among girls.Conclusions: The frequency of family meals is positively associated with improved food consumption patterns (i.e., higher intake of fruits and vegetables and reduced consumption of sweets) in both parents and children. However, the association in children is partially mediated by parents’ diet quality. The promotion of consuming meals together in the family could be a potentially effective strategy for interventions aiming to establish and maintain healthy food consumption patterns among children.Trial registration: The Feel4Diabetes-study is registered with the clinical trials registry (NCT02393872), http://clinicaltrials.gov, March 20, 2015. What is Known:• Parents’ eating habits and diet quality play an important role in shaping dietary patterns in children• Family meals frequency is associated with improved diet quality of children in healthy population What is New:• Frequency of family meals was significantly associated with healthier food consumption among parents and children in families at high risk of type 2 diabetes in six European countries.• Parental diet quality mediates the association between family meals frequency and the consumption of some selected food items among children.

Satisfaction with Food: Profiles of Two-Parent Families with Adolescent Children

“…This profile is the one that presents the highest SWFoL and better eating habits in general. According to [ 52 ], eating habits, both of parents and children, have been positively associated with better food consumption patterns (greater consumption of fruits and vegetables, and a lower consumption of sweets). In our study, this occurred only in the case of mothers and fathers and in the consumption of vegetables and sweets.…”

“…On the other hand, the frequency of family meals is associated with children’s healthier food consumption [ 52 ]. There is an inverse relation between the frequency of family meals and body weight in parents and children.…”

Cross‐sectional and longitudinal associations between family meals frequency and children's overweight/obesity in families at high risk of type 2 diabetes: The Feel4Diabetes‐study

“…17 Recently, it has been found that European children from families at high risk of developing T2D have low frequency of family meals. 18 Besides, results of a large multicentred European study showed that children born to IR parents and at risk of T2D were more likely to have unhealthy dietary patterns. 19 Thus, assessing families at high risk of T2D who potentially have already unhealthy lifestyle behaviours could help to identify modifiable factors in the family meals' structure that can protect against overweight/obesity and to get a better insight into this specific population.…”

Parental food consumption and diet quality and its association with children’s food consumption in families at high risk of type 2 diabetes: the Feel4Diabetes-study

“…However, there are not so many studies assessing the association between parental IR and children' IR. Recently, it has been observed that children from parents at risk of T2D have less family meals frequency (5) . Also, in a previous study with European data, it has been observed that children from parents at risk of T2D that already had IR were found to have higher odds of unhealthy lifestyle patterns (6) .…”

“…Moreover, having IR and obesity during childhood could increase the risk of developing T2D (4) . Therefore, assessing those families that are already at risk of T2D could help to get a better insight of this specific population as children from these families already have worse lifestyle behaviours (6) and less family meals frequency (5) .…”