Involvement in Meal Preparation at Home Is Associated With Better Diet Quality Among Canadian Children

Abstract

Objective

To examine the associations between home meal preparation involvement with diet quality and food group intake among children.

Methods

Grade 5 children aged 10–11 years (n = 3,398) were surveyed. Food intake was measured using the Harvard Youth/Adolescent Food Frequency Questionnaire, and diet quality was measured using the Diet Quality Index–International. Random effects regression models with children nested within schools were used to test for associations.

Results

Higher frequency of involvement in home meal preparation was associated with higher Diet Quality Index–International scores. Children who were involved in meal preparation daily ate 1 more serving/d of vegetables and fruit compared with children who never helped (P < .001). Similar significant differences, although small, were observed for intake of the other food groups.

Conclusions and Implications

Children who were more involved in home meal preparation also consumed healthier diets. Encouraging parents to involve their children in meal preparation could be a viable health promotion strategy.

Introduction

Poor dietary intake is associated with higher risk for chronic disease1, 2 and is recognized as a significant contributor to the obesity epidemic.³ The importance of eating a healthy and balanced diet should be emphasized.4, 5 Canada's Food Guide (CFG) contains daily intake recommendations for each of the 4 food groups: vegetables and fruit, grain products, milk and alternatives, and meat and alternatives.⁴ However, national survey data indicate that most Canadian children are not meeting CFG intake recommendations.⁶

There is growing interest in the influence of the home food environment on child dietary intake.⁷ Availability of healthier foods at home,⁸ participation in family meals,8, 9 parental encouragement,¹⁰ and role modeling8, 10 are factors cited to facilitate healthier dietary intakes. Encouraging greater involvement in food-related activities in the home can foster family cohesion¹¹ and could be an effective strategy to improve child dietary intake because these activities present an opportunity for parents to role model healthy eating behaviors.¹² Furthermore, participation in such activities could foster increased interest in food and nutrition and increase a child's self-efficacy for choosing healthier foods.¹³

Previous studies reported that adults and adolescents who prepared meals more frequently at home ate higher-quality diets, where home meal preparation was associated with higher fruit and vegetable intake and with lower intakes of fat, fried foods, and sugar-sweetened beverages.14, 15, 16 However, these studies were primarily conducted among older adolescents and adults.14, 15, 16 The dynamics of the relationship linking food-related behavior to dietary intake among a younger population may differ because children tend to have less autonomy in food decision making compared with older adolescents, and their parents are usually the gatekeepers of food availability in the home.¹⁷ As a part of efforts to inform health promotion programs among younger children, it is interesting to determine whether the observed associations between home meal preparation and food intake among adolescents can also be seen in younger children. The inclusion of a meal preparation component in nutrition education interventions targeting elementary school-aged children has previously been shown to be effective in promoting fruit and vegetable intake.18, 19 Nevertheless, there still remains a need to support these findings with data from population-level studies. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the association between frequency of involvement in home meal preparation and quality of dietary intake among a provincially representative population of grade 5 children (aged 10–11 years) in Alberta, Canada.