Parent-child nutrient intake interrelationships in school children ages 6 to 19: The Princeton School District Study

Abstract

Interrelationships between nutrient intakes (dietary cholesterol, total carbohydrate, saturated and polyunsaturated fat, and total calories) of parents and children were examined in 294 families (60 black, 234 white) which included at least one parent and one child in the Princeton School survey of parents and their children, ages 6 to 19. The nutrient data were collected by means of the standardized Lipid Research Clinics' collaborative 24-hr dietary recall; simple correlations and analysis of covariance were used to assess parent-child nutrient intake (per kg body weight) relationships. There were significant positive simple correlations between nutrient intake of parents and children for total carbohydrate (r = 0.28, P < 0.0001), saturated fat (r = 0.15, P < 0.01), polyunsaturated fat (r = 0.19, P < 0.001), and calories (r = 0.24, P < 0.0001); parents' intake of cholesterol did not correlate with that of their children (r = 0.004, P > 0.1). By analysis of covariance with adjustment for sex, race, age, and recall group, the parent-child association of cholesterol intake was significant (P = 0.001), and the remaining parent-child nutrient intake relationships were congruent with those observed by simple correlations. The proportion of variation of the children's nutrient intake accounted for by parental nutrient intake varied from a low of 23% for parent-child cholesterol intakes (all parents-all children) to a high of 97% for carbohydrate intake in black fathers over age 40 and their children. The multiple Rs2 for black parents-black children for nutrient intakes were higher than those for white parents-white children for carbohydrate, saturated fat, and calories. Close parent child nutrient interrelationships not only suggest that a considerable portion of lipid-lipoprotein variability may be nutritionally-environmentally determined, but may contribute to clustering of coronary heart disease risk factors in families.