The influence of parents’ dietary beliefs and behaviours on children's dietary beliefs and behaviours. The CYKIDS study

Parental and self-reported dietary and physical activity habits in pre-school children and their socio-economic determinants

“…The questionnaires used to assess parents' and children's dietary and physical activity habits both yielded comparable information for the same items, thus allowing evaluation and correlation of the information obtained. In addition, many earlier studies did not include information about which parent (mother or father) (11,38) answered the questionnaire, and our results indicate that this should be taken into account since it seems to have an influence on children's choices.…”

“…In agreement with our results, an Australian study (33) in 193 children aged 5-6 years found that parents' nutritional knowledge directly predicted that of their children, including an ability to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy foods (15) . Studies carried out in older children (9-11 years) emphasized that better parental knowledge of nutrition leads parents to place greater emphasis on teaching their children about healthy foods and therefore to improve their health-related behaviours and choices (8,9,11,34) . The current study, with younger children, suggests that in addition to parents' knowledge, their attitudes and habits are also likely to lead to better adherence to a healthy diet and physical activity by their children.…”

“…One of the best dietary patterns to follow given the scientific evidence supporting its cardioprotective effects is the Mediterranean diet (6,7) . Parents are usually the principal role model for their children and there is a strong parent-child association in terms of dietary habits (8)(9)(10)(11) . However, a recent systematic review aimed at defining the degree of association between the dietary intake of children and that of their parents showed that the agreement is weak and varies considerably between studies (12) .…”

Family structure and childhood obesity: results of the IDEFICS Project

“…Family is also a fundamental source of social learning: the environment in which children develop their personality, assuming attitudes of those whom they live with. Parents therefore become role models in the adoption and maintenance of health-promoting behaviours in children, including food choices (13) and physical activity (14) , both factors possibly influencing child adiposity and currently of great interest due to the high prevalence of childhood obesity (15) . If 'adults' may impact food choices and lifestyle attitudes of children, it is conceivable that the family structure could play an important role in the pathogenesis of obesity in children and adolescents.…”

Children’s dietary needs: nutrients, interactions and their role in health

“…Parents today are more health conscious than in previous generations. They are better informed about the diet-health relationship and are interested in providing children with healthy food alternatives (Lazarou et al, 2008). However, rigorous scientific studies involving children are needed to assure the safety of food additives and to protect consumers from false or unsubstantiated health claims.…”