Abstract
The purpose of this systematic review is to assess the associations among education, income and dietary pattern (DP) in children and adolescents from high, medium and low human development countries (HHDC, MHDC and LHDC, respectively). Observational studies that evaluated the association between family income or education with the DP are obtained through electronic database searches. Forty articles are selected for review. In HHDC, education is inversely associated with “unhealthy” DP and positively associated with “healthy” DP. In cross-sectional studies from HHDC, higher income is negatively associated with “unhealthy” DP. In MHDC, there is no association between the socioeconomic variables (SE) and the DPs, although, in some studies, the unhealthy diet is positively associated with SE. Only one study conducted in LHDC showed an inverse association between income/education with “unhealthy” DP and there is no association between the SE and “healthy” DP. In conclusion, children and adolescents living in HHDC with high parental education tend to have a healthier diet. In MHDC, although an unhealthy diet is found among the high-income and educated population, the associations are not clear. Additional research is needed to clarify the associations between income and education with “unhealthy” and “healthy” DPs in MHDC and LHDC.
Highlights
Socioeconomic status (SES) has an influence on diet, regardless of age and the level of development of an individual’s country of residence [1,2,3,4,5]
We included studies that evaluated the association between family income and/or education and dietary pattern (DP) in children and adolescents, with no language or time restrictions
Three main results can be drawn from this systematic review: (1) In accordance with our first hypothesis, cohort and cross-sectional studies conducted in High Human Development Countries (HHDC) found that education was inversely associated with the “unhealthy” DP and positively associated with the “healthy” DP. (2) Cross-sectional studies conducted in HHDC found that higher income was associated with lower adherence to
Summary
Socioeconomic status (SES) has an influence on diet, regardless of age and the level of development of an individual’s country of residence [1,2,3,4,5]. Nutrients 2018, 10, 436 with high-SES are more likely to consume healthy foods, whereas unhealthy diets are more commonly consumed by low-SES individuals [5,6,7]. As incomes rise and populations experience urbanization, societies enter different stages of the nutrition transition [8]. The nutrition transition refers to large changes in diet and activity patterns, especially in their structure and overall composition [9]. Many emerging and developing countries have experienced this transition and its associated consequences on public health [13]
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