Family Food Rules and Healthy Eating in Adolescents

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Abstract
The current direction in nutrition education reinforces the notion that parental involvement might be necessary for substantial dietary change in children and adolescents. However, research on family determinants of food patterns is limited. This research investigates, in a first study of 429 adolescents, and in a second study of 522 family triads (adolescent-mother- father), the establishment of family food rules in infancy and its impact on food choices and consumption in adolescence. Results of both studies are comparable. Adolescents who report more permissiveness in their family at age 10, eat more fat and sweet foods, more snacks and report less healthy food choices in their family. No relationship was found between obligations on eating a 'proper meal' in childhood and healthy food patterns in adolescence. This research suggests that if parents impose restrictions on the consumption of unhealthy foods upon their children, these may be translated into a lower frequency of consumption of unhealthy foods in adolescence.