Parental Nutrition Knowledge Rather Than Nutrition Label Use Is Associated With Adiposity in Children

Abstract

ObjectiveDetermine how parental nutrition label use, label literacy, and nutrition knowledge may be associated with cardiovascular health in parents and their children. Design and SettingCross-sectional analyses of 2006 data from the Healthy Heart Project in Montreal, Canada. ParticipantsAmong community recruited families, parents were predominantly mothers (n = 127 [80%]; mean age, 45.0 years) and half of their children were female (44%; mean age, 12.5 years). Main Outcome MeasuresBlood pressure, lipids, and weight. Nutrition label use, label literacy, and nutrition knowledge among parents were collected using existing scales. AnalysesMultivariable linear regression models. ResultsAmong parents, nutrition label use was associated with lower total cholesterol (B[SE] = −.53 [.20]; P = .009), lower low-density lipoprotein (B[SE] = −.57 [.21]; P = .007), and lower total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (B[SE] = −.82 [.30]; P = .008) but was not associated with adiposity. Among children, greater parental nutrition knowledge was associated with lower body mass index percentiles (B[SE] = −3.6 [1.49]; P = .02), lower waist circumference (B[SE] = −1.27 [.55]; P = .02), and lower percent body fat (B[SE] = −1.28 [.47]; P = .008). Parental nutrition label use or nutrition knowledge was not associated with children's lipids. Conclusions and ImplicationsParents with greater nutrition label use had more favorable lipids, but children's lipids were unaffected. Children of parents with greater nutrition knowledge had lower adiposity. Further research on the correlates of label use and health is needed.