Healthy Living DIY

Remember that little chat we had about peer pressure earlier this week? Well, peers are not the only ones who have the opportunity to influence your choices.

Conventional wisdom has it that parents are in charge of the food that comes into the family home. The parents have "yea" or "nay" veto power over choices like toaster pastries or corn flakes; pizza or lentil soup with garden fresh veggies & dip; burgers & fries or broiled chicken and a baked potato.

Educate the parents. The kids will eat what's available.

Researcher Helena Laroche, MD (University of Iowa) and some colleagues questioned that conventional wisdom. They wondered if the influence might also work the other way. If it did, so their theory went, then adults in homes with young children would themselves eat less well than adults in homes where children were not present.

Turns out they were right.

Their study focused on participant reports of food frequencies. A nutritionist helped the researchers select food groups identified by USDA guidelines as major sources of saturated fat in the American diet. Examples of high-fat food groups include ice cream, salty snacks, cheese, pizza, luncheon meats, beef, eggs, cakes and pastries, chocolate candy, margarine, butter, and salad dressings.

The researchers examined reports from 6660 participants; 48% of the adults surveyed reported at least one child in the home. They found that, on average, an adult in a home with children consumed nearly 5 grams more fat per day than an adult in a home with no children. No significant differences were found based on race, gender, or adult age group.

The researchers noted that this 4.9 gram difference is the equivalent of one standard slice of pepperoni pizza every single day!

They suggested several possible reasons for the differences they found:

• Time pressures among adults with children


• Children's preference for high fat and high sugar foods


• Parents' perception of what their children are willing to eat

Dr. Laroche and her colleagues concluded that while convenience foods and those favored by children may not specifically be purchased with adult consumption in mind, once the foods are in the home, adults are more likely to eat them too. In addition, "Parents with children are likely to be susceptible in their food choices to both the marketing of convenience in food choices as well as indirectly to the marketing directed at their children."

In conclusion, the researchers suggested that nutritional counseling and education should be directed to the whole family, adults and children, and not just the parents. They further noted that the simple awareness of a child's influence on family food choices could greatly improve not only the child's diet, but the parents' as well.

To view the article summary, click on Adult Fat Intake Associated with the Presence of Children in Households: Findings from NHANES III .

And in the "oh by the way" category, I learned something really interesting while reading the introduction to the formal study. We Americans, overall, have decreased the percentage of calories we obtain from fat by a full 3% between 1971 and 2000. Think that sounds good? It is!

Except that over the same period, our average food intake has increased. Enough that our total fat intake has remained stable or increased.

Bummer, huh?