December 27, 2010
Nutrition: At Home, Influence Wanes on Child Diets
By NICHOLAS BAKALAR

Parents may think they can set a good example for their children by eating a healthy diet themselves, but a new analysis finds that it may not work.

Researchers reviewed 24 studies on parent and child dietary habits, using statistical techniques to combine their results. Their analysis, being published in the February issue of The Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, found only a weak correlation between what parents and their children eat.

They also found that the association diminished over time — later studies generally showed a weaker connection than earlier ones between child-parent pairs. The authors acknowledge that their conclusions were based on limited data, that only three of the studies were conducted in developing countries, and that methodologies varied.

Still, the researchers, led by Dr. Youfa Wang, an associate professor of international health at Johns Hopkins, concluded that parents’ influence was apparently overwhelmed by other factors. Advertising, food supply and availability, the influence of peers, and opportunities to eat outside the home all contribute to making children’s diets very different from that of their parents.

So what’s a parent to do? “Make healthier food available at home,” said Dr. Wang, the father of two young boys. “Put it on the table every day, and try different ways to prepare food, especially vegetables. Parents can still have an important impact.”