Parental Encouragement of Healthy Lifestyles for Their Children and Personally Caring about Healthy Lifestyles Is Positively Associated with Children Using Vitamin D Supplements

Abstract

Supplement users have better vitamin D status, and parenting is key to promoting a child’s healthy behaviours. We examined the association of parental encouragement of and caring about healthy lifestyles with children’s use of vitamin D supplements and multivitamins. A provincially representative sample of grade 5 students (n = 2686; 10–11 years) and their parents across the province of Alberta, Canada, was surveyed in 2014. Students were asked about use of multivitamins and/or vitamin D supplements. Parents were asked whether they cared about and encouraged healthy lifestyles. Mixed effect multiple logistic regression identified the association of parental responses with children’s use of supplements; 29% and 54% of children took vitamin D supplements and multivitamins, respectively. They were more likely to take vitamin D supplements if their parents cared ‘very much’ vs. ‘not at all/a little bit’ about eating healthy foods (OR = 1.43; 95% CI = 1.08, 1.89), cared ‘quite a lot’ (OR = 1.55; 95% CI = 1.17, 2.04) and ‘very much’ (OR = 1.67; 95% CI = 1.26, 2.21) vs. ‘not at all/a little bit’ about physical activity, and encouraged ‘very much’ vs. ‘not at all/a little bit’ their children to eat healthy foods (OR = 1.51; 95% CI = 1.05, 2.17). Children whose parents personally cared for eating healthy foods were more likely to take multivitamins (‘quite a lot’ and ‘very much’ compared to ‘not at all/a little bit’ (OR = 1.60; 95% CI = 1.13, 2.28 and OR = 1.46; 95% CI = 1.04, 2.06, respectively). Education and parental encouragement of healthy lifestyles should be part of the public health initiatives to promote supplementation of vitamin D among children.

Association between Physical Activity, Diet Quality and Leisure Activities of Young Poles

“…Lifestyle is defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as the choice of behavioural patterns among those available to a person that are determined by socio-economic factors and the type of motivation that influences the choice of some behaviours over others [3]. Assuming the relative consistency of the types of motivation that may determine or foster health-promoting behaviours as a result of the recognition of health as an important value in the axiological system of each individual [4], it can be indicated that, among others, proper nutrition, physical activity, coping with stress, attention to personal hygiene, proper interpersonal relationships and regular preventive examinations or attention to the quality of sleep will be components of a lifestyle that is perceived in the literature as healthy [5][6][7].…”