Longitudinal Associations between Food Parenting Practices and Dietary Intake in Children: The Feel4Diabetes Study

Food parenting practices (FPPs) have an important role in shaping children's dietary behaviors. This study aimed to investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal associations over a two-year follow-up between FPP and dietary intake and compliance with current recommendations in 6- to 11-year-old European children. A total of 2967 parent-child dyads from the Feel4Diabetes study, a randomized controlled trial of a school and community-based intervention, (50.4% girls and 93.5% mothers) were included. FPPs assessed were: (1) home food availability; (2) parental role modeling of fruit intake; (3) permissiveness; (4) using food as a reward. Children's dietary intake was assessed through a parent-reported food frequency questionnaire. In regression analyses, the strongest cross-sectional associations were observed between home availability of 100% fruit juice and corresponding intake (beta = 0.492 in girls and beta = 0.506 in boys, p < 0.001), and between parental role modeling of fruit intake and children's fruit intake (beta = 0.431 in girls and beta = 0.448 in boys, p < 0.001). In multilevel logistic regression models, results indicated that improvements in positive FPPs over time were mainly associated with higher odds of compliance with healthy food recommendations, whereas a decrease in negative FPP over time was associated with higher odds of complying with energy-dense/nutrient-poor food recommendations. Improving FPPs could be an effective way to improve children's dietary intake.

Automated summary

The study found that home availability of 100% fruit juice had the strongest cross-sectional association with children's corresponding intake, and parental role modeling of fruit intake was also related to children's fruit intake. Improving positive food parenting practices was associated with better compliance with healthy food recommendations, while reducing negative food parenting practices was associated with better compliance with energy-dense/nutrient-poor food recommendations.