Parental nutrition knowledge and attitudes as predictors of 5-6-year-old children's healthy food knowledge

Objective: Young children's knowledge about healthy food may influence the formation of their eating behaviours, and parents have a major influence on the development of children's knowledge in the early years. Design: We investigated the extent to which parental nutrition knowledge and attitudes around food predicted young children's knowledge of healthy foods, controlling for other influences such as socio-economic status (SES) and parent education levels in a cross-sectional research design. Children were given a healthy food knowledge activity and parents completed questionnaires. Setting: Twenty primary schools in Adelaide, Australia, stratified by SES. Subjects: We recruited 192 children aged 5-6 years and their parents. Results: Structural equation modelling showed that parent nutrition knowledge predicted children's nutrition knowledge (r=0.30, P<0.001) independently of attitudes, SES and education level. Conclusions: Nutrition education for parents, targeted at low-SES areas at higher risk for obesity, may contribute to the development of healthy food knowledge in young children.