Maternal Diet and Family Habits Shape Preschool Children's Eating Patterns

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Children's healthy and unhealthy eating habits are closely linked to their mothers' dietary behaviors and family practices, such as watching TV during meals or using food as a reward, according to an analysis published in Nutrition Journal.

Nutrition in early life is a crucial element in the development of obesity, with research indicating dietary habits are often established before the age of three. Researchers refer to this period as the “window of change,” in which children shape their food habits, eating habits and behaviors. During this time, parental diet, family meal environments and the way in which they are introduced to the family diet is very important, as dietary habits in early life have been shown to continue through childhood. For example, some studies have reported children of families who eat together and eat the same foods are more likely develop healthier eating habits than those who do not.

“Whether the combination of all these family meal behaviors together and maternal overall diet, rather than individual components, is associated with children’s dietary patterns, have not comprehensively been analyzed,” wrote a team of investigators led by Veronica Luque, PhD, associated with the Pediatric Nutrition and Development Research Unit at the Universitat Rovira I Virgili in Spain. “Such an analysis would help in understanding the development of children’s dietary patterns in early life, enabling the creation of targeted interventions to improve nutrition in childhood and prevent childhood obesity.”

To explore the relationship between dietary patterns in preschool children and those of their mothers, as well as family meal habits, investigators performed a secondary analysis of 488 mother-child pairs from the UK Pregnancy Better Eating and Activity Trial (UPBEAT) at three years postpartum. UPBEAT was a randomized controlled trial conducted between March 2009 and May 2014 designed to promote healthy eating while not necessarily restricting energy intake. Participants in the trial received a health trainer-led group dietary intervention once a week for eight weeks.

Dietary patterns were established in previous studies and were derived from food-frequency questionnaires (FFQ) and an exploratory factor analysis. Dietary patterns among mothers were categorized as “Fruits-Vegetables,” “African-Caribbean” and “Processed and Snacks,” while children’s’ patterns were described as “Prudent,” “African Caribbean” and “Processed-Snacking.” The family meal environments were assessed on a 5-point scale.

At the three-year follow-up, approximately one third of kids (34%) were characterized as having either overweight or obesity.

Kids placed in the Prudent pattern category were more likely to have mothers who ate more fruits and vegetables and ate the same foods during mealtime. Children in the Processed-Snacking dietary pattern were more likely to have mothers who ate processed foods, receive food as a reward and watch television during meals. The dietary pattern of kids in the African-Caribbean group was directly associated with the mother’s eating pattern and watching television during meals. This pattern was also inversely linked to maternal processed and snacking patterns.

Families who often or always ate meals together more frequently reported eating the same foods (78.2%) compared with those who never or sometimes ate together (43.4%) and were less likely to watch television during meals (22.1% vs 32.4%, respectively). Children who ate more meals with their families were also less likely to receive food as a reward (62.2% vs 72.1%, respectively).

“Interventions aimed at fostering optimal parental modelling should be strategically implemented across various levels of the family’s socioecological framework,” investigators concluded. “These initiatives should encompass interventions on social media, community actions and educational interventions starting from early infancy, with the goal to prevent the development of unhealthy habits that may be linked to obesity and non-communicable diseases.”