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Epidemiology

The influence of socioeconomic factors and family context on energy-dense food consumption among 2-year-old children

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 69, pages 47–54 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Adverse effect on health has been described for a high consumption of energy-dense food, among children and adults. Limited research has been performed among pre-school children. The objective of this study is to evaluate the association between socioeconomic characteristics and family structure, and the consumption of energy-dense food among 2-year-old children.

Subjects/Methods:

The study sample includes 808 2-year-old children from the Portuguese birth cohort Generation XXI with information on food consumption. Data were obtained from questionnaires administered by interviewers to parents. Based on a food frequency questionnaire, four groups of energy-dense food were defined: soft drinks (sweetened drinks), sweets (chocolate and candies), cakes (creamy and not creamy cakes and sweet pastry) and salty snacks (crisps, pizza and burger). Multinomial logistic regression models (odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals) were fitted to estimate the associations.

Results:

Intakes of energy-dense food were much lower than in similar aged children in other Westernized countries. Maternal age and education, grandparents’ education, household income and maternal occupation were inversely associated with the consumption of energy-dense food, particularly soft drinks and sweets. Children with older siblings were more likely to have a daily consumption of any energy-dense food. Few significant associations were found between socioeconomic characteristics and family structure and consumption of cakes and sweets less than once a week.

Conclusion:

High socioeconomic characteristics were associated with lower consumption of energy-dense food by 2-year-old children, mainly soft drinks and sweets. This influence is not only from parents’ background but also from the preceding generations.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all members of the research team and the staff of Generation XXI for their essential and generous assistance. Generation XXI has been funded by the Operational Health Programme—XXI Health, Community support framework III (co-funded by feder), Administração Regional de Saúde do Norte, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT—PTDC/SAU-ESA/108577/2008). The project Generation XXI was conducted according to the guidelines laid down in the Declaration of Helsinki and all procedures involving human subjects/patients were approved by the Ethical Committee of the São João Hospital/ the University of Porto Medical School.

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Author notes

  1. E Pinto

    Present address: 5Current address: CBQF—Centro de Biotecnologia e Química Fina—Laboratório Associado, Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Universidade Católica Portuguesa/Porto, Porto, Portugal.,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Public Health, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    S Vilela, A Oliveira, E Pinto, P Moreira, H Barros & C Lopes

  2. Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Predictive Medicine and Public Health, University of Porto Medical School, Porto, Portugal,

    A Oliveira, H Barros & C Lopes

  3. Cardiovascular Research & Development Unit, University of Porto Medical School, Porto, Portugal

    A Oliveira, H Barros & C Lopes

  4. Faculty of Food and Nutrition Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    P Moreira

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Correspondence to C Lopes.

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Vilela, S., Oliveira, A., Pinto, E. et al. The influence of socioeconomic factors and family context on energy-dense food consumption among 2-year-old children. Eur J Clin Nutr 69, 47–54 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2014.140

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