Healthy eating habits are also non-electron...Father's children, who had high adolescent diet quality, also ate good food
Jun 02, 2025
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This is the result of a recent study by Dr. Marian de Oliveira of Boston College at the American Nutrition Society (ASN) conference (Nurition 2025) in Orlando, Florida. Children's eating habits have traditionally been focused on the role of mothers, but recent studies have suggested that fathers have a great influence on their children's eating habits.
This study investigated the eating habits of 669 men who participated in the 『GUTS-F&F』, which recruited nurse children in the 1990s and 2000s, and investigated information on their eating habits and others, which they revealed by participating in follow-up studies again as fathers with children aged 1 to 6 between 2021 and 2022.
First of all, the quality of the adolescent diet was evaluated with a 'healthy dietary index' (HEI: 0-100 points), and the fathers were divided into a high level of diet quality (B:HEI 80-89 points), a moderate level (C:HEI 70-79 points), a low level (D:HEI 60-69), and a very low level (F:HEI 60 points or less). Subsequent studies investigated their sociodemographic characteristics and current eating habits, children's diet, and how they manage their children's snacks and unhealthy food intake.
Among fathers, 44% were classified as a group with low adolescent diet quality, 40% as a group with gradually deteriorating diet quality, and 16% as a group with gradually improved diet quality.
In adolescence, fathers in groups with good or improved diet quality were 90% more likely to model healthy eating habits for their children, and 60% more likely to manage their children to have healthy eating habits. In addition, the percentage of children of these fathers who ate more than the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables was significantly higher than that of children of fathers whose eating habits were bad or worsened during adolescence. Children in the group with healthy eating habits in adolescence had 62% and 38% of meeting the recommended intake of fruits and vegetables, but children in the group with low diet quality had 54% of fruits, 29% of vegetables, and only 53% of fruits and 23% of vegetables in the group with poor diet quality.
The research team said healthy eating habits in adolescence not only benefit themselves, but also affect their behavior as parents in the future.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
