Diet Quality of Canadian Preschool Children: Associations with Socio-demographic Characteristics
Ana Carolina Barco Leme, Dabrowka Muszynski, Julia A. Mirotta, Nicholas Caroll, Jaimie L. Hogan, Kira Jewell, Jessica Yu, Regina Mara Fisberg, Alison M. Duncan, David W.L., Jess Haines, on behalf of the Guelph Family Health Study
Abstract
Purpose: To examine associations between preschoolers’ diet quality and parent and child socio-demographic variables. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis with 117 preschoolers. Parents reported socio-demographics and their children’s diet using 3-day food records. Diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) 2015. Linear regression models were used to analyze associations between socio-demographics and HEI scores. Results: A total of 86% of children had an HEI-2015 score in the “needs improvement” category (51–80 out of a maximum of 100). Children’s overall HEI-2015 score was inversely associated with children’s age (β = −0.19, 95% CI −0.37, −0.02). Parental education was positively associated with children’s overall HEI score (β = 9.58, 95% CI 3.81, 15.35) and with scores for total fruit (β = 1.00, 95% CI 0.39, 1.76), vegetables (β = 1.11, 95% CI 0.03, 2.18), total protein (β = 1.06, 95% CI 0.28, 1.84), and seafood/plant protein (β = 1.67, 95% CI 0.43, 2.89) components. Children who identified as Caucasian (β = 4.29, 95% CI 2.46, 6.14), had a Caucasian parent (β = 3.01, 95% CI 0.78, 5.25), or parents who were born in Canada (β = 2.32, 95% CI 0.53, 4.11) had higher scores for dairy. Conclusion: Our results suggest that preschoolers’ diet quality needs improvement and that children’s diet quality varies by children’s age and parental education level.