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Nutrition and Health (including climate and ecological aspects)

Diet quality and household income level among students: 2014 National Health and Nutrition Survey Japan

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 75, pages 969–975 (2021)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/objectives

Although higher diet quality is related to higher socioeconomic status among adults, it is unclear whether this result could be generalized to children. Elementary and junior high school lunch programs may contribute to the reduction of socioeconomic disparities in diet quality. We examined the association between diet quality and household income level in school children in Japan according to age subgroups.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted in 866 household members (435 men and 431 women) aged 6–18 years old from the 2014 National Health and Nutrition Survey, Japan. Dietary intake was assessed by 1 day semi-weighted household dietary record, and the Japanese Food Guide Spinning Top scores (range 0–70) were calculated. The household income was assessed by low, middle, and high. Associations between diet quality and household income levels were examined by age subgroups (6–14 years and 15–18 years), i.e., those with and without school lunch programs

Results

Higher dietary scores were observed in those with higher household income in the 15–18 year-olds; the multivariate adjusted mean (95% CI) of diet score was 44.3 (39.0–49.7), 48.8 (47.1–50.6), 51.6 (49.7–53.4) in children with the lowest household income level through the highest, respectively (P for trend = 0.003). However, there were no significant associations among those who were 6–14 years old.

Conclusions

Our findings suggest that school lunch program in elementary and junior high schools might help to reduce socioeconomic disparities in diet quality. The development of healthy food environment in high schools without school lunch programs, should also be considered.

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Data availability

Data used in this study (from the National Health and Nutrition Survey of Japan performed in 2014) are accessible via a request to Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare based on Article 33 of the Statistics Act (Act No. 53 in 2007), and the initial contact address for the data request is Office of Director-General for Policy Planning on Statistical Standards, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC): TEL 03-5273-1019 FAX; 03-5273-1181 MAIL; s-2jiriyou@soumu.go.jp.

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Funding

This study was supported by the Health Japan 21 (the second term) Analysis and Assessment Project.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutritional Epidemiology and Shokuiku, National Institute of Health and Nutrition, National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, 1-23-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-8636, Japan

    Kayo Kurotani, Chisa Shinsugi & Hidemi Takimoto

  2. Department of Health Sciences, Showa Women’s University, 1-7-57, Taishido, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 154-8533, Japan

    Kayo Kurotani

Authors
  1. Kayo Kurotani
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  3. Hidemi Takimoto
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Contributions

KK analyzed the data and wrote the article. HT and CS substantially implemented the survey and consolidated the data. All authors critically revised the article and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hidemi Takimoto.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This study was conducted in accordance with the Ethical Guidelines of Epidemiological Research. This study was exempt from the application of these guidelines because anonymized data was only used in this study.

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Kurotani, K., Shinsugi, C. & Takimoto, H. Diet quality and household income level among students: 2014 National Health and Nutrition Survey Japan. Eur J Clin Nutr 75, 969–975 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41430-020-00794-1

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