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Do children and their parents eat a similar diet? Association between child and parental dietary intakes
Author(s) -
Wang Youfa,
Beydoun May,
Li Ji,
Liu Yinghui,
Moreno Luis A.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.24.1_supplement.561.6
Subject(s) - nutrient , association (psychology) , meta analysis , medicine , food group , demography , dietary fat , environmental health , psychology , biology , endocrinology , ecology , sociology , psychotherapist
It is widely believed parents have a strong influence on children's eating behaviors. However, previous findings on child‐parent resemblance in dietary intake are mixed. We systematically reviewed and analyzed the association based on published studies. We searched PubMed and other database for related studies published since 1980, resulted in 24 studies meeting selection criteria for review and 15 studies for meta‐regression analysis. We compared the associations between parent‐child pairs, nutrients, over time, and by dietary assessment method using regression analysis. Most studies were based on small samples and from the U.S. Overall, they suggest a moderate or weak association, but findings varied remarkably across studies and nutrients. Twelve studies reported correlations in energy and fat intakes. Our meta‐analysis showed average parent‐child correlation for intakes of energy (r=0.17±0.13) and fat (% energy, r=0.19±0.14) were similar. Father‐son pairs had highest r in fat intake (% energy, r=0.25); mother‐son pairs had weakest r in energy intake (r=0.08). The r varied by dietary assessment methods and countries. FFQ or mixed approaches yielded lower r than using multiple 24‐hr recalls or food records for both children and parents. Overall, the resemblance is weak and reported associations varied considerably across studies, nutrients and foods.