Parental messages and the nutrition awareness of preschool children

Anliker, Jean; Laus, Mary Jane; Samonds, Kenneth W.; Beal, Virginia A.

doi:10.1016/s0022-3182(12)80289-5

Cited by 53 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Several school-based intervention studies conducted in preschool and school-aged children have shown that nutrition counselling has a definite impact on children's nutrition knowledge (Anliker et al, 1990;Disc Collaborative Research Group, 1995;Nader et al, 1996). Increased social support by the parents has been shown to facilitate behavioural change and, therefore, positive effects should be expected if parents are actively involved in the intervention (Koivisto Hursti & Sjödén, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of nutrition counselling on nutrition knowledge and nutrient intake of 7- to 9-y-old children in an atherosclerosis prevention project

et al. 2003

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Objective: To assess the impact of nutrition counselling given to 7.5-to 9-y-old children and their parents on children's nutrition knowledge and nutrient intakes. Design and subjects: The study children are participants in a prospective, randomised STRIP study (Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project for Children), whose aim was to decrease the intakes of saturated fat and cholesterol while increasing the intake of unsaturated fat in the intervention children from the age of 7 months onwards. Nutrition counselling was given only to the parents until the child's age of 7 y. Nutrition knowledge and nutrient intakes (total energy, total fat, saturated fat, unsaturated fat and sodium) were studied in a time-restricted cohort of 47, 7-y-old intervention and 51 control children. Thereafter, nutrition counselling was given both to the children and parents. Children's nutrition knowledge and nutrient intakes were measured again at the age of 9 y. Results: Biannual nutrition counselling given to the intervention children and the parents maintained the differences in saturated fatty acid intake attained during the intervention given to the parents alone (11.5 vs 13.3 E% (percent of energy intake), at the age of 7 y, Po0.01; 11.1 vs 13.4 E% at the age of 9 y, respectively; Po0.01). The intervention children used more polyunsaturated fatty acids at the age of 9 y than the control children (5.7 vs 5.1 E%, P ¼ 0.05). At 7 y, the intervention and control children had similar nutrition knowledge scores (total knowledge score 12.9 vs 12.0, respectively, P ¼ 0.13). After 1.5 y of nutrition intervention, at 9 y, the intervention children's nutrition knowledge was higher than that of the controls (total nutrition score 16.5 vs 13.2, respectively, Po0.001) and the ability to explain the reasons for their picture choices in the nutrition knowledge test had increased. Conclusion: This study showed that only a relatively short period of counselling with low input is needed to increase in children's nutrition knowledge and ability to explain nutrition-related subjects if advice has first been given to the parents and if the parents have received reinforcement and concrete help with parent-child communication after their children have been involved in the counselling. The differences attained in nutrient intake could also be maintained.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of nutrition counselling on nutrition knowledge and nutrient intake of 7- to 9-y-old children in an atherosclerosis prevention project

et al. 2003

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“…Verbal communication includes parents discussing topics with children such as which foods are liked, which foods are good for you, trying new foods and what foods to prepare for meals, with simple statements such as 'eat it up, it's good for you' or 'don't eat any more of those, they're bad for you' or more specific nutrition information such as 'this food will make you big and strong' or 'this food has vitamin C' (6,19,20) . It is noteworthy that positive messages emphasizing why food is important may have a greater influence on improving children's nutrition knowledge than negative messages such as why certain foods should not be eaten; and the quantity, quality and specificity of the information provided is significantly related to children's nutrition knowledge (20,21) . In the present study, the relationship between parents' attitudes to healthy eating and children's nutrition knowledge was mediated by parents' nutrition knowledge, indicating the importance of attitudes in forming knowledge.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parental nutrition knowledge and attitudes as predictors of 5–6-year-old children's healthy food knowledge

Zarnowiecki

Sinn

Petkov

et al. 2011

Public Health Nutr.

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Objective: Young children's knowledge about healthy food may influence the formation of their eating behaviours, and parents have a major influence on the development of children's knowledge in the early years. Design: We investigated the extent to which parental nutrition knowledge and attitudes around food predicted young children's knowledge of healthy foods, controlling for other influences such as socio-economic status (SES) and parent education levels in a cross-sectional research design. Children were given a healthy food knowledge activity and parents completed questionnaires. Setting: Twenty primary schools in Adelaide, Australia, stratified by SES. Subjects: We recruited 192 children aged 5-6 years and their parents. Results: Structural equation modelling showed that parent nutrition knowledge predicted children's nutrition knowledge (r 5 0?30, P , 0?001) independently of attitudes, SES and education level. Conclusions: Nutrition education for parents, targeted at low-SES areas at higher risk for obesity, may contribute to the development of healthy food knowledge in young children.

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“…Although young children (kindergarten to second grade) use terms such as`low fat' or`low sugar', they may have dif®culty in naming foods with those characteristics (Lytle et al, 1997). The amount of parental instruction and information is probably fundamental to children's understanding of abstract associations in nutrition (Anliker et al, 1990). In the STRIP study, the terms low fat',`low salt' and`heart healthy' have been frequently used in parental nutrition counselling, but, without an intention to make the children understand these terms.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Children begin in this age to understand concepts like nutritive value, nutrient function, and the impact of nutrition on health (Lee et al, 1984), and their nutritional awareness correlates with the quantity and quality of food-and nutrition-related information delivered by the parents (Anliker et al, 1990). However, concepts such as`low-fat food' and`low-sodium food' are abstract expressions for most of the young children, suggesting that child-targeted nutrition education should probably combine theoretical information with real food and snack experiences to teach the children what to eat and what to avoid (Contento, 1981).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrition knowledge and food intake of seven-year-old children in an atherosclerosis prevention project with onset in infancy: the impact of child-targeted nutrition counselling given to the parents

et al. 2001

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Objective: To compare nutrition knowledge and food intake in 7-y-old intervention and control children in an atherosclerosis risk factor intervention trial after 6.5 y of nutrition counselling given to the parents. Design, subjects and methods: Intervention families in the Special Turku Coronary Risk Factor Intervention Project received child-oriented nutritional counselling one to three times a year since child's age of 7 months, aimed at reduced saturated fat and cholesterol intake. Children's nutrition knowledge was analysed in a timerestricted cohort of 70 seven-y-old (34 boys) intervention children and 70 control children (40 boys) with a picture identi®cation test. For comparison, children's food intake was evaluated using scores developed for the project that re¯ected quality and quantity of fat and quantity of salt in children's two or three 4-day food diaries recorded between 5.5 and 7 y of age. Results: Child-targeted nutrition counselling of the intervention families only slightly increased intervention children's knowledge of heart-healthy foods (42.6% vs 34.9% correct answers by the intervention and control children, P 0.057). Only 20% of the children were able to adequately justify their answers in the test. The food diaries of the intervention children comprised more foods low in saturated fat and high in unsaturated fat than those of the control children (57.1% vs 41.7% of the maximum score for low fat foods, P 0.0001; 48.9% vs 37.7% for high unsaturated fat foods, P 0.0009, respectively), but the intervention and control children consumed similar amounts of low-salt foods (P 0.23). Nutrition knowledge and food use scores correlated poorly (r 70.20 ± 0.35). Conclusions: Child-targeted nutrition counselling repeatedly given to the parents during and after child's infancy strongly in¯uenced food choice scores of the 5.5 ± 7-y-old children but failed to in¯uence children's salt intake or scores in a nutrition knowledge picture test.

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Parental messages and the nutrition awareness of preschool children

Cited by 53 publications

References 16 publications

Impact of nutrition counselling on nutrition knowledge and nutrient intake of 7- to 9-y-old children in an atherosclerosis prevention project

Impact of nutrition counselling on nutrition knowledge and nutrient intake of 7- to 9-y-old children in an atherosclerosis prevention project

Parental nutrition knowledge and attitudes as predictors of 5–6-year-old children's healthy food knowledge

Nutrition knowledge and food intake of seven-year-old children in an atherosclerosis prevention project with onset in infancy: the impact of child-targeted nutrition counselling given to the parents

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