Family food environment and dietary behaviors likely to promote fatness in 5-6 year-old children

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity 2006-08, Vol.30 (8), p.1272-1280
• Main Authors: Campbell, K.J, Crawford, D.A, Ball, K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: attitudes and opinions; Beverages; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child, Preschool; children; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diet; Disease prevention; Eating - physiology; Eating behavior; eating habits; Education; Educational Status; Energy; Energy Intake - physiology; Environment; Epidemiology; Exercise; Families & family life; family relations; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Food; Food availability; food choices; food frequency questionnaires; Fruit juices; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Humans; Internal Medicine; Linear Models; Male; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Miscellaneous; Nutrition research; Obesity; Obesity - epidemiology; Obesity - etiology; Obesity - prevention & control; Obesity - psychology; original-article; Overweight; Parenting; Parents & parenting; Physical fitness; prediction; Prevention; psychosocial factors; Public Health; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Questionnaires; Schools; Socioeconomic Factors; Television; Vegetables; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.ijo.0803266

Background: The family food environment (FFE) is likely to exert important influences on young children's eating. Examination of multiple aspects of the FFE may provide useful insights regarding which of these might most effectively be targeted to prevent childhood obesity. Objective: To assess the associations between the FFE and a range of obesity-promoting dietary behaviors in 5-6-year-old children. Design: Cross-sectional study. Subjects: Five hundred and sixty families sampled from three socio-economically distinct areas. Measurements: Predictors included parental perceptions of their child's diet, food availability, child feeding practices, parental modeling of eating and food preparation and television (TV) exposure. Dietary outcomes included energy intake, vegetable, sweet snack, savory snack and high-energy (non-dairy) fluid consumption. Results: Multiple linear regression analyses, adjusted for all other predictor variables and maternal education, showed that several aspects of the FFE were associated with dietary outcomes likely to promote fatness in 5-6-year-old children. For example, increased TV viewing time was associated with increased index of energy intake, increased sweet snack and high-energy drink consumption, and deceased vegetable intake. In addition, parent's increased confidence in the adequacy of their child's diet was associated with increased consumption of sweet and savory snacks and decreased vegetable consumption. Conclusion: This study substantially extends previous research in the area, providing important insights with which to guide family-based obesity prevention strategies.