FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CONSUMPTION, NUTRITIONAL KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEFS INMOTHERS AND CHILDREN

Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption is an important health beha viour. Parental and other psychosocial influences on children's fruit and vegetable consumption are poorly understood. The contribution of a variety of psychosocial and environmental factors to consumption of f ruit and vegetables by children aged 9-11 years was explored. Ninety-t wo mothers and children (48 girls and 44 boys) were recruited via urba n primary health-care practices. Socio-economic and educational level, nutritional knowledge and health- and diet-related beliefs and attitu des were assessed in mothers and children by questionnaires and semist ructured interviews. Mothers' diets were measured by a food frequency questionnaire, while children's diets were assessed by 3-day diaries ( N = 80). The pattern of influence of the various measures on fruit and vegetable consumption was compared with that on children's confection ery intake. The children's intakes of macronutrients were typical for the U.K. (37% fat, 50% carbohydrate and 13% protein by energy; 12 g/da y fibre), while median fruit, fruit juice and vegetable intake amounte d to about 2.5 servings/day. Univariate correlations and subsequent mu ltiple regression analyses revealed quite different influences on the three food types. Independent predictors of children's fruit intake in cluded mothers nutritional knowledge (beta = 0.37), mothers' frequency of fruit consumption (beta = 0.30) and mothers' attitudinal convictio n that increasing fruit and vegetable consumption by their children co uld reduce their risk of developing cancer (beta = 0.27; multiple beta = 0.37, p<0.0001). Children's vegetable consumption was independently explained by the child's liking for commonly eaten vegetables (beta = 0.36) and the mother's belief in the importance of disease prevention when choosing her child's food (beta = - 0.27; r(2) = 0.20, p<0.001). Children's confectionery consumption was predicted by the mother's li king for confectionery (beta=0.32) and the children's concern for heal th in choosing what to eat (beta =-0.26, r(2) = 0.16, p<0.005). Childr en's consumption of fruit and vegetables are related to different psyc hosocial and environmental factors. Promotion of this behaviour may re quire attention to nutritional education and child feeding strategies of parents. (C) 1998 Academic Press.