Associations between Child and Parent Knowledge of Added Sugar Recommendations and Added Sugar Intake in Multiethnic Elementary-Aged Children

Abstract

Background A key goal of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015–2020 is to reduce added sugar intake by increasing public knowledge about added sugars. However, research has not shown if knowledge of added sugar recommendations is associated with intake. Objective To determine the relationship between parent and child knowledge of added sugar recommendations on added sugar intake in primarily low-income and Hispanic 3rd to 5th grade students. Methods Analysis examined baseline, cross-sectional data from TX Sprouts, a 1-year cooking, gardening, and nutrition clustered, randomized controlled trial. Participants were 685 parent-child dyads from 16 elementary schools in the greater Austin area. Parents and children completed a survey to assess knowledge of added sugar recommendations. Children completed two, 24-hour dietary recalls to assess average intake of added sugars. Mixed effects linear regression models were used to estimate associations between child and parent knowledge of added sugar recommendations and average total added sugar intake. Results Children who correctly identified the added sugar recommendation consumed lower amounts of added sugar compared to children who did not correctly identify the recommendation (34.8 ± 2.7 vs. 41.0 ± 2.5 grams, P = 0.003), after adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics. Parent knowledge of added sugar recommendations was not associated with child intake. Conclusions Child knowledge of added sugar recommendations was associated with lower intake of added sugars. Findings suggest that child nutrition education should focus on increasing knowledge of national recommendations. Future research should investigate a causal relationship between added sugar knowledge and intake in elementary-aged children.

Parental food consumption and diet quality and its association with children’s food consumption in families at high risk of type 2 diabetes: the Feel4Diabetes-study

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Knowledge about Sugar Sources and Sugar Intake Guidelines in Portuguese Consumers

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