Eating habits and influential factors for mothers and children in Romania

Background: In an era of obesity, healthy food habits are essential. Changing already established habits is difficult, so it is very important to seed from the earliest years of life the seeds of an appropriate nutritional behavior. The role of parents is essential, since they are main role models for their children. Aim: In the present study, the aim was to evaluate mother-child correlation of nutritional habits and to find factors determining them. Methods: The research was a cross sectional study carried out on a random sample of urban Romanian mothers, who had to answer to demographical and nutritional questionnaires. The nutritional investigation concerned mothers' and children 's nutritional habits. Results: The study showed that nutrition of mother and of child in Romanian families are highly correlated, that mother 's education, on first place, and income, on the second place, are the main determinants of child's and women's nutrition, and that more educated women deal better with challenging nutrients like fats. Conclusions: More educational programs regarding the adequacy of nutrition have to be put in place and have to target important demographical groups, like women with children. Programs have to be specially adapted to different levels of understanding, in order to reach all women, overtaking differences in background and education.