Longitudinal Associations between Food Parenting Practices and Dietary Intake in Children: The Feel4Diabetes Study.

Paloma Flores-Barrantes,Jemina Kivelä,Tsvetalina Tankova,Imre Rurik,Ruben Willems,Patrick Timpel,Natalya Usheva,Violeta Iotova,Konstantinos Makrilakis,Stavros Liatis,Eva Karaglani,Esther M González-Gil,Greet Cardon,Iris Iglesia,Katja Wikström,Emese Antal,Peter E H Schwarz ,Luís A Moreno ,Yannis Μanios

doi:10.3390/nu13041298

Abstract

Food parenting practices (FPPs) have an important role in shaping children’s dietary behaviors. This study aimed to investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal associations over a two-year follow-up between FPP and dietary intake and compliance with current recommendations in 6- to 11-year-old European children. A total of 2967 parent-child dyads from the Feel4Diabetes study, a randomized controlled trial of a school and community-based intervention, (50.4% girls and 93.5% mothers) were included. FPPs assessed were: (1) home food availability; (2) parental role modeling of fruit intake; (3) permissiveness; (4) using food as a reward. Children’s dietary intake was assessed through a parent-reported food frequency questionnaire. In regression analyses, the strongest cross-sectional associations were observed between home availability of 100% fruit juice and corresponding intake (β = 0.492 in girls and β = 0.506 in boys, p < 0.001), and between parental role modeling of fruit intake and children’s fruit intake (β = 0.431 in girls and β = 0.448 in boys, p < 0.001). In multilevel logistic regression models, results indicated that improvements in positive FPPs over time were mainly associated with higher odds of compliance with healthy food recommendations, whereas a decrease in negative FPP over time was associated with higher odds of complying with energy-dense/nutrient-poor food recommendations. Improving FPPs could be an effective way to improve children’s dietary intake.

Highlights

Youth overweight and obesity prevalence has risen in the last decades, amounting to more than 124 million children and adolescents, of which 6% were girls and 8% were boys in 2016 [1]
The present study shows that Food parenting practices (FPPs) are associated both cross-sectionally and longitudinally with dietary intake and food intake recommendations compliance of European children from the Feel4Diabetes study
Positive FPPs seem better for the pursuit of compliance with nutrient-dense food recommendations, whereas avoiding negative FPPs appears to be beneficial in limiting the consumption of energy-dense/nutrient-poor foods

Summary

Introduction

Youth overweight and obesity prevalence has risen in the last decades, amounting to more than 124 million children and adolescents, of which 6% were girls and 8% were boys in 2016 [1]. This condition has been associated with several cardio-metabolic risks and diseases [2,3], which could track into adulthood [4]. The family is an important social context where children learn and adopt eating behaviors [6]. During the first years of life, children’s learning about food and eating plays an important role in shaping subsequent food choices, diet quality, and weight status [7]. Children are strongly influenced by their parents, genetically and due to the use of food parenting practices (FPPs) as parents are providers, models, and regulators of their children’s dietary intake and home food environment [8]

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