Poor dietary habits established during childhood might persist into adulthood, increasing the risk of developing obesity and obesity-related complications such as Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. It has been found that early modifications in eating habits, especially during childhood, might promote health and decrease the risk of developing diseases during later life. Various studies found a great influence of parental dietary habits on dietary behaviors of their children regardless of demographic characteristics such as gender, age, socioeconomic status and country; however, the exact mechanism is still not clear. Therefore, in this review, we aimed to investigate both parents’ and children’s dietary behaviors, and to provide evidence for the potential influence of parents’ dietary behaviors and practices on certain children’s eating habits. Family meals were found to contribute the most in modeling children’s dietary habits as they represent an important moment of control and interaction between parents and their children. The parental practices that influenced their children most were role modeling and moderate restriction, suggesting that the increase of parental encouragement and decrease of excessive pressure could have a positive impact in their children’s dietary behaviors. This narrative review highlights that parental child-feeding behaviors should receive more attention in research studies as modifiable risk factors, which could help to design future dietary interventions and policies to prevent dietary-related diseases.

Breakfast is an important source of key nutrients in the diet. For this reason, the aim of this review was to investigate the associations between breakfast consumption and daily micronutrients intake in both children and adolescents (aged 2–18 years). A peer-reviewed systematic search was conducted in three datasets (PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane Library) in February 2020 in English and Spanish. Two independent reviewers evaluated 3188 studies considering the AXIS critical appraisal and PRISMA methodologies. Meta-analysis was carried out comparing results according to type of breakfast consumed (Ready to eat cereals (RTEC) breakfast or other types of breakfast) and breakfast skipping. Thirty-three articles were included in the systematic review (SR) and 7 in the meta-analysis. In the SR, we observed that those children and adolescents who usually consume RTEC at breakfast had a higher consumption of B-vitamins than those not consuming RTEC at breakfast. Breakfast consumers had a higher mineral intake (iron, calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and iodine) than breakfast skippers. In the Meta-Analysis, RTEC consumers had significantly higher vitamin C intake than breakfast skippers (Standard Mean Difference (SMD), −4.12; 95% confidence intervals (CI): −5.09, −3.16). Furthermore, those children who usually consume breakfast had significantly higher daily intake of calcium than breakfast skippers (SMD, −7.03; 95%CI: −9.02, −5.04). Our review proposes that breakfast consumption seems to be associated with higher daily micronutrients intake than breakfast skippers.

This study investigated parental influences on preschool children’s healthy and unhealthy snacking in relation to child obesity in a large cross-sectional multinational sample. Parents and 3–5 year-old child dyads (n = 5185) in a kindergarten-based study provided extensive sociodemographic, dietary practice and food intake data. Parental feeding practices that were derived from questionnaires were examined for associations with child healthy and unhealthy snacking in adjusted multilevel models, including child estimated energy expenditure, parental education, and nutritional knowledge. Parental healthy and unhealthy snacking was respectively associated with their children’s snacking (both p < 0.0001). Making healthy snacks available to their children was specifically associated with greater child healthy snack intake (p < 0.0001). Conversely, practices that were related to unhealthy snacking, i.e., being permissive about unhealthy snacking and acceding to child demands for unhealthy snacks, were associated with greater consumption of unhealthy snacks by children, but also less intake of healthy snacks (all p < 0.0001). Parents having more education and greater nutritional knowledge of snack food recommendations had children who ate more healthy snacks (all p < 0.0001) and fewer unhealthy snacks (p = 0.002, p < 0.0001, respectively). In the adjusted models, child obesity was not related to healthy or unhealthy snack intake in these young children. The findings support interventions that address parental practices and distinguish between healthy and unhealthy snacking to influence young children’s dietary patterns.

Breakfast plays an important role in health because it has been associated with overall health, which includes a high daily nutrient intake and a low risk of chronic diseases. For this reason, we investigated the associations between breakfast consumption and daily energy, macronutrients, and food and beverage consumption. We systematically searched peer-reviewed articles in three datasets (Pubmed, Scopus, and Cochrane). Two independent reviewers evaluated 3188 studies against the inclusion criteria using the Appraisal tool for Cross-Sectional Studies (AXIS) critical appraisal and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) methodologies. The meta-analysis was performed by comparing results based on type of breakfast consumed (ready to eat cereal breakfasts or other types of breakfasts). Ultimately, 38 studies were included in the review and 7 of them in the energy and macronutrients intake meta-analysis. In the Systematic Review, breakfast consumers had higher energy intake (EI), fibre intake, and higher consumption of fruits and vegetables and lower consumption of soft drinks than breakfast skippers. In the Meta-Analysis, breakfast consumers had a higher carbohydrates intake (MD, −8.21; 95%CI: −11.37, −5.05) and fibre intake (MD, −8.43; 95%CI: −12.63, −4.23) than breakfast skippers. However, breakfast consumers had a lower fat intake (MD, 4.59; 95%CI: 2.04, 7.15). Our review suggests that breakfast consumption is associated with better macronutrient intake and healthier food and beverage consumption.

Background: Assessment of diet and physical activity and their determinants still remains a demanding task, especially when the objective is to evaluate the efficacy of lifestyle interventions. In the context of the Feel4Diabetes study (a European community based intervention study in families with school aged children and at high risk of developing diabetes), we aimed to develop questionnaires for the assessment of food-frequency and eating behaviors, and physical activity and sedentary behaviors in both parents and school-aged children and a questionnaire for overall family’s energy balance-related behaviors. Methods: Questionnaires were developed to be used in 6 countries under standardized harmonization procedures and included questions regarding not only food intake and physical activity, but also questions of their determinants. A reliability study was conducted in 191 pairs of parents and their children (N = 191). Parents completed the questionnaires on two occasions, within a 1–2 week interval. Reliability was tested by the intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) of test-retest. Results: Most of the questions in all questionnaires had excellent reliability, assessed as an ICC of > 0.810. Mean ICCs for food-frequency and eating behaviors questionnaires were 0.838 and 0.787, and for physical activity and sedentary behaviors questionnaires were 0.734 and 0.793, in adults and children respectively. Mean ICC for overall family’s energy balance-related behaviors and their determinants was 0.659. Conclusion: The developed questionnaires showed acceptable reliability and may be valuable tools in the assessment of children’s and parents’ behaviors related to diet, physical activity, sedentary behavior and overall energy balance in school- and community-based interventions.

We aimed to study growth patterns according to rapid weight gain (RWG) and infant feeding practices during the first 120 days and whether infant feeding practices mediated the association between RWG in the first semester of life and subsequent body mass index (BMI) z-score in children from age 1 to 6. (1) Methods: 862 children from the Growth and Feeding during Lactation and Early Childhood in Children of Aragon study (CALINA in Spanish) were examined. Repeated-measures ANOVA analyses were conducted to assess growth trajectories according to RWG and type of feeding practice. The product of coefficients mediation method was used to assess the potential contribution of infant feeding practices to the association between RWG and BMI z-score. Mediation models were conducted using IBM SPSS-PROCESS Statistics for Windows, Version 26.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp. (2) Results: BMI and weight z-score trajectories were significantly higher in the RWG group and the formula-fed group. No significant differences were found regarding height. Infant feeding practices did not mediate the association between RWG and BMI z-score but were associated with BMI at 6 years. (3) Conclusions: Infant feeding practices and RWG determine different growth trajectories of BMI and weight during childhood. Although infant feeding practices did not mediate the association between early RWG and BMI later in life, formula feeding is independently related to higher BMI growth patterns later in childhood.