Effects of dietary habits and environment fifth grade among children and their parents’ dietary habits on changes in quality of life after one year

A longitudinal study

Abstract

BACKGROUND：It has been pointed out that children’s eating habits, such as skipping breakfast, unbalanced diet, and lonely eating, aff ect the physical and mental health of children. OBJECTIVE：The purpose of this study was to examine the eff ects of dietary habits and food environments among children and their parents’ dietary habits on changes in the children’s quality of life （QOL） after one year. METHODS：Two surveys were conducted among 91 children in grade 5 and 90 of their parents at an elementary school in Fukuoka in October‒November 2017 and October 2018. The participants were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire containing questions about their dietary habits and food environment. A validated Japanese version of the KINDLR was used for QOL measurement. RESULTS：According to the baseline survey, there were significant associations between daily breakfast consumption and QOL scores among children. Children who frequently consumed breakfast at baseline exhibited a maintained or elevated QOL after one year. The kappa value for the consistency in breakfast consumption frequency between children and their parents was 0.44 （moderate consistency）. The frequency of breakfast consumption among their parents had tendency to changes in the children’s QOL after one year. CONCLUSION：Daily breakfast consumption is benefi cial to maintaining or increasing children’s QOL. Moreover, the dietary habits of their parents who consume breakfast daily are also important for maintaining or increasing children’s QOL.