Association between Food Preferences, Eating Behaviors and Socio-Demographic Factors, Physical Activity among Children and Adolescents: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

The prevalence of overweight and obesity is a serious health issue among children and adolescents worldwide. This study aimed to investigate factors influencing weight status-associated food preferences and eating behaviors. A cross-sectional study was conducted to collect data from 2578 pairs of Chinese children and parents in five cities from December 2018 to March 2019. There was an increase in consumptions of processed seafood, nuts and dried fruit/vegetables, and fruit/vegetable juice, but a reduction of consuming puffed and processed meat products, sugar/artificially sweetened beverages and milk tea, and picky eating. These food preferences differentiate between sexes. Picky eating behavior was greatly presented in children of lower educated mothers or heavy-smoking fathers. Children of the lower educated fathers consumed less processed seafood and dairy products, and those of the heavy-smoking fathers consumed more puffed products, but less fruit/vegetable juice, and had greater snack preference. The father’s body mass index(BMI)status was also positively associated with unhealthy behaviors. Those who exercised daily longer showed better eating behaviors, and picky eating and fast-food lovers likely occurred in higher-income families. Our study provides an insight into that fathers being educated for health-conscious advice and physical activity may be the potential strategies to foster their children’s healthy eating patterns. Their efficacy needs to be further investigated.

The Mobility of Income-related Inequality in Food Preferences Among Chinese Adults: a Population-based Longitudinal Study

“…Our study identified some factors to be the determinants of healthy food preference for Chinese adults. Most determinants were similarly reported in previous studies [7,[23][24][25]. Firstly, our study found that food preferences were strongly influenced by their sociodemographic characteristics.…”

“…Although several studies have published using one-wave cross-sectional survey with focusing on food preference in children or adolescents, studies on food preference of adults are less reported [5][6][7][8]. As children are usually taken care of by their parents, their dietary intake often depends on the family context and their food knowledge.…”

The association between frequency of eating out with overweight and obesity among children aged 6-17 in China: A National Cross-sectional Study

“…Li Miao found that children from high income family with more pocket money were more likely to be overweight and obesity [41]. however, opposite to previous research [32] lower rate of frequency of eating out was found among children from high-income family, which may be related to the fact that the rate of overweight and obesity was higher among children from high-income family, then they were less likely to eat out . Furthermore, The study showed that in comparison with children in rural regions, children from urban regions tended to be overweight and obesity, and this difference was also found in other domestic studies [ 42,43], which was likely due to the convenience of eating out in the urban regions [44].…”

The Association between Frequency of Eating Out with Overweight and Obesity Among Children Aged 6-17 in China: A National Cross-Sectional Study

“…The current study clearly demonstrated the signi cant association between overweight and obesity with higher frequency of eating outside among boys, similar results were observed in previous researches: as in Brazilian children [28], and had been found among children from Etiology of Childhood Obesity (ECHO) study [29], in children and adolescents aged 11-14 years in London Borough [30],in Portugal children [21] and in US elementary schools students [31]. However, we did not observe a signi cant association between obesity and eating out in group of girls, which may due to boys' greater preference for fatty food and girls pay more attention to their weight [32][33][34]. whereas, the result of the UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS) indicated that no association between energy intake and frequency of consumption of meals out in children [35].The differences in research result may be partly due to the fact that lacking of uniform standard for the de nition of eating out.…”