The Home Food Environment During Infancy and Associations with Toddler Diet at Age 2 Years
Open Access
- Author:
- Masker, Sara
- Area of Honors:
- Nutritional Sciences
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Jennifer Savage Williams, Thesis Supervisor
Alison D Gernand, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Home Food Environment
Infancy
Toddler Dietary Class
Family Meals
Out of Home Meals
Television Exposure - Abstract:
- As childhood obesity rates continue to rise, it is important to study the modifiable factors that can contribute to this epidemic. Creating a positive home food environment starting as early as infancy can help create healthy dietary patterns. The purpose of this study is to examine how three controllable elements of the home food environment – family meals, out of home meals, and television exposure – during infancy impact dietary patterns in toddlerhood. Aims for the study were as follows: 1) To examine the association between the environment of family meals in infancy and toddler diet; 2) To examine association of the frequency of family meals in infancy and toddler diet; 3) To examine the association of the frequency of restaurant meals in infancy and toddler diet. This study is an observational, secondary analysis of the INSIGHT randomized control trial. Participants for the current study included 217 healthy mother-infant dyads recruited from a Central Pennsylvania maternity ward. At child age 44 weeks, mothers completed a Family Meals and TV questionnaire. A factor analysis was conducted and created three subscales for the Family Meals and TV questionnaire – time/priority for family meals, social aspect of family meals, and value of rules at family meals. Questions regarding television exposure and frequency of family meals were also assessed based on this questionnaire. At child age 2 years, mothers completed a semi-quantitative, 121-item Food Frequency Questionnaire to assess toddler diet. A latent class analysis was conducted to identify three toddler dietary classes - meat potatoes and added sugar (MPAS, 24.65% of the sample), high fruit and vegetables (HVF, 31.16% of the sample), and high juice low fruit and vegetable (JLFV, 44.19% of the sample). To test study hypotheses, linear models were conducted examining the associations between the home food environment in infancy and later toddler diet; when omnibus tests indicated associations between these variables, follow-up logistic regressions were examined to specify the relation between the home food environment and odds of dietary class membership. H1a was supported: results indicate that parents’ prioritization of family meals was associated with toddler dietary class (omnibus F = 3.66, p = 0.01). Specifically, parents who were higher on prioritization of family meals during infancy had toddlers who were less likely to be in the MPAS dietary class than the HFV or JLFV classes (odds ratio = 0.53, 95% CI = 0.34-0.82). H6 was supported: results indicate that meals eaten in restaurants during infancy was associated with toddler dietary patterns (omnibus F = 6.24, p = 0.01). Specifically, infants who ate more meals in restaurants were more likely to be in the MPAS dietary class than the HFV or the JLFV classes (odds ratio = 1.93, 95% CI = 1.3-2.7). Overall, our data indicate that some home food environment factors in infancy were linked with later toddler diet. Specifically, parents’ prioritization of family meals, or emphasis on making sure they happen within the family, as well as limiting the amount of meals eaten outside of the home, may yield healthier dietary patterns for children. Since previous research has demonstrated the strong influence maternal dietary patterns have on children, future directions in this line of research should consider how maternal dietary intake impacts the child’s home food environment. Further, research on the home food environment should also expand to examine child weight status as an outcome with dietary patterns as a mechanism.