The Family Diet Study: a cross-sectional study into the associations between diet, food habits and body weight status in Malay families

• Published in: Journal of human nutrition and dietetics Vol. 29; no. 4; pp. 441 - 448
• Main Authors: Yang, W. Y., Burrows, T., MacDonald-Wicks, L., Williams, L. T., Collins, C. E., Chee, W. S. S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-08-2016
• Subjects: Anthropometry; Body mass; Body Mass Index; Body size; Body weight; Child; Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena - ethnology; Children; Children & youth; Cross-Sectional Studies; Demographics; developing country; Diet; Diet - adverse effects; Diet - ethnology; Dietary intake; Energy intake; Energy Intake - ethnology; Families & family life; family; Family Health - ethnology; Feeding Behavior - ethnology; Female; Food; Food groups; Food habits; Food intake; Food preferences; Food Preferences - ethnology; Health Transition; Humans; Malaysia - epidemiology; Male; Nutrients; Nutrition; Nutrition research; Nutrition Surveys; Nutritional Status - ethnology; Obesity; Overweight; Overweight - epidemiology; Overweight - ethnology; Overweight - etiology; parent; Parents; Pediatric Obesity - epidemiology; Pediatric Obesity - ethnology; Pediatric Obesity - etiology; Prevalence; Regression analysis; Reproducibility of Results; Schools; Self Report; Weight control; Malaysia; body weight; parent; nutrition; developing country; diet; family; child
• ISSN: 0952-3871; 1365-277X
• DOI: 10.1111/jhn.12356

Background
Childhood obesity is becoming more common as Malaysia experiences rapid nutrition transition. Current evidence related to parental influences on child dietary intake and body weight status is limited. The present study aimed to report, among Malay families, the prevalence of energy mis‐reporting and dietary relationships within family dyads.
Methods
The cross‐sectional Family Diet Study (n = 236) was conducted at five primary schools in central of Peninsular Malaysia. Each family consisted of a Malay child, aged 8–12 years, and their main caregiver(s). Information on socio‐demographics, dietary intake and anthropometry were collected. Correlations and regression analyses were used to assess dietary relationships within family dyads.
Results
Approximately 29.6% of the children and 75.0% parents were categorised as being overweight or obese. Intakes of nutrients and food groups were below the national recommended targets for majority of children and adults. A large proportion of energy intake mis‐reporters were identified: mothers (55.5%), fathers (40.2%) and children (40.2%). Children's body mass index (BMI) was positively associated with parental BMI (fathers, r = 0.37; mothers, r = 0.34; P < 0.01). For dietary intakes, moderate‐to‐strong (0.35–0.72) and weak‐to‐moderate (0.16–0.35) correlations were found between mother–father and child–parent dyads, respectively. Multiple regression revealed that maternal percentage energy from fat (β = 0.09, P < 0.01) explained 81% of the variation in children's fat intake.
Conclusions
Clear parental dietary relationships, especially child–mother dyads, were found. Despite a significant proportion of families with members who were overweight or obese, the majority reported dietary intakes below recommended levels, distorted by energy mis‐reporting. The findings of the present study can inform interventions targeting parent–child relationships to improve family dietary patterns in Malaysia.