Family correlates of fruit and vegetable consumption in children and adolescents: a systematic review

Abstract

Objectives: To review associations between the family environment and young people's fruit and vegetable consumption. Design: A systematic review. Published English-language (n 60) papers were identified using electronic databases and manual searches of personal files and reference lists. Observational research reporting a measure of fruit/vegetable intake for children (aged 6-11 years) and/or adolescents (aged 12-18 years) and at least one potential family correlate of dietary intake was included. Results: Parental modelling and parental intake were consistently and positively associated with children's fruit and fruit, juice and vegetable (FJV) consumption. There were also positive associations between home availability, family rules and parental encouragement and children's fruit and vegetable consumption. Parental intake was positively associated with adolescents' fruit and vegetable consumption. There were also positive associations between parental occupational status and adolescent fruit consumption and between parental education and adolescents' FJV consumption. Conclusions: Our findings highlight the importance of targeting the family environment for the promotion of healthy eating behaviours among children and adolescents. Future interventions should encourage parents to be positive role models by targeting parental intake and to create a supportive home environment through increased encouragement and availability of fruits and vegetables and employing rules to govern eating behaviours. For adolescents, indicators of family circumstances (e.g. parental education) should be used to identify target groups for interventions aimed at promoting healthy eating. Keywords Adolescents Children Family correlates Fruit VegetablesThere is compelling evidence that diets rich in fruits and vegetables have health-protective effects (1) . While most of the research on associations between fruit and vegetable consumption and health outcomes has focused on adults, there is growing evidence that fruit and vegetable consumption in children may protect against a range of childhood illnesses (2) . Targeting young people to improve health behaviours, such as consuming the recommended amount of fruit and vegetables, is important because evidence suggests that dietary behaviours track from childhood to adolescence (3,4) and food behaviour and food choices established in childhood or adolescence may significantly track into adulthood (5) . Moreover, child fruit consumption may be protective against cancer in adulthood (6) .Recommendations vary by country but public health agendas across the globe share the common goals of increasing the consumption levels of fruit and vegetables and encouraging people to eat a variety of fruit and vegetables. Despite the health benefits of diets rich in fruits and vegetables, national health surveys indicate that children and adolescents are eating fewer fruits and vegetables than is recommended for health (7)(8)(9) . Data from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study (HBSC) ...

Sedentary Behavior and Dietary Intake in Children, Adolescents, and Adults

“…However, adult behaviors are also associated with the behavior of their offspring, and a review of parental correlates of fruit and vegetable consumption in young people shows that intake of the parent is associated with that of their children. 80 Moreover, TV viewing habits of parents is associated with that of their children. 81 Interventions may need to target adults and children together.…”

Factors within the family environment such as parents’ dietary habits and fruit and vegetable availability have the greatest influence on fruit and vegetable consumption by Polish children

“…The role of the parent is particularly significant since parents directly shape the physical and social environment of children from the very early years and directly influence their behaviour, habits and attitudes (30) . Their own habits, as well as customs which they introduce into the household such as eating together or consuming F&V, shape the patterns of food consumption of children (30)(31)(32)(33) . As persons responsible for the availability and diversity of food at home, parents also influence what kind of foods children are eating.…”

“…Patterns of family meals, especially meals eaten together, positively affect the consumption of F&V (4,7,9,30) . Children like to consume products they know -the more often children eat a given product, the more they like it.…”

Associations of parental feeding styles with child snacking behaviour and weight in the context of general parenting

“…In addition to the supportive effect of Overt Control and Covert Control on decreasing snack (and SSB) intake, Covert Control was also supportive in increasing child fruit intake. This suggests that parents who exert higher levels of Covert Control might replace the home availability of unhealthy snacks by home availability of fruit, which is positively related to fruit intake (15,20,22,52) . Consistent with previous findings (23) , Encouragement was negatively related to child energy-dense snack intake, indicating that parental encouragement might be influenced by health beliefs: parents encourage their children's interest in and curiosity for a variety of healthy foods, resulting in the consumption of less unhealthy foods (23,49) .…”