Influence of Maternal Education on Food Consumption and Energy and Nutrient Intake in a Group of Pre-School Children from Madrid

Abstract

A study was conducted on the influence of maternal education level on food consumption, energy and nutrient intake, and dietary adequacy in 110 pre-school children from Madrid, Spain. With increasing maternal education, children consumed more sugar(p < 0.05), fruit (p < 0.05), and fish (p < 0.05). Snacking was more frequent with decreasing maternal education (p < 0.05). Though statistical significance was not reached, the consumption of pre-cooked foods was greater among children of mothers educated to a higher level, a phenomenon probably related to the work situation of these women. With respect to dietary composition, no significant differences were found between groups for macronutrient, fiber and energy intakes, except for energy supplied by polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), which was greater in the children of less educated women (p < 0.01). This is probably due to their greater consumption of sunflower seed oil. The diets of children belonging to well-educated mothers came closer to meeting the recommended intakes for folate, vitamin C, and iodine. It would seem that maternal educational level influences the food habits of children. Mothers with less education may require special advice in this area.

Food and Nutritional Assessment in Schoolchildren from Mountainous Areas of Argentinean Northwest

“…In all maternal education levels it was observed that there are problems of malnutrition both excess and deficit. Other authors observed that the educational level of parents is associated with the level of knowledge about health issues and accessibility to food they give their children [28,29]. Studies show that mothers who underestimate or overestimate the body weight of children could be a risk factor that increases the prevalence of malnutrition [30,31] similar to that situation observed in this work.…”

Review Article Socio-economic determinants of micronutrient intake and status in Europe: a systematic review

“…Not a single study on status in children was found. Table 1 gives an overview of data availability per country and study characteristics (2,(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33) . Most data available were for adults, studying the relationship between vitamin C or Ca intake and education, occupation or income.…”

“…Four studies on vitamin C intake in children showed lower mean intake in low-SES groups in comparison to high SES, except in Belgian boys (28) where the relative difference between SES groups was 12 %. In other studies where lower mean intake in low-SES groups in comparison to high SES was reported, relative differences ranged from 6 % in Turkish boys (18) up to 33 % for Spanish children (29) . Statistically significant differences between SES groups were found in studies from Finland (21) , Ireland (23) and Scotland (26) for adults and in the study from Spain (29) for children (P , 0?01).…”

“…Higher Ca intake in low SES as compared with high SES was found in Belgian boys (28) and in Turkey (17) : relative differences were 1 % and 19-54 %, respectively. Belgian girls and the children from Spain (29) and the UK (33) had higher intake in the high-SES groups: the relative difference ranged from 3 % to 29 %. Statistically significant differences in Ca intake between SES groups were observed in Irish females (23) and Belgian girls (28) (P , 0?01).…”

Impact of parental education and income inequality on children's food intake

“…Apart from studies that applied principal components analysis 16,17 or determined the degree of compliance with dietary recommendations 18,19 , other researchers have primarily paid attention to the socioeconomic status of the mother, particularly maternal education. For example, in a Spanish study investigating the association between level of maternal education and food consumption in pre-school children, consumption of added sugars, fruit and fish increased with increasing maternal education, while snacking was more frequent with decreasing maternal education 20 . Among several demographic characteristics examined in a cross-sectional survey in 2 -6-year-old children in England, high maternal education was positively associated with higher vegetable intake, but not with fruit intake 1 .…”