Association Between Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in Mothers and Children in Low-Income, Urban Neighborhoods

¹ Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Occupational Health, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
² School of Dietetics & Human Nutrition, Macdonald Campus, McGill University, Montreal, Canada

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: marie-pierre.sylvestre{at}mail.mcgill.ca.

	Abstract

To understand factors influencing fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption in children, the authors studied the association between F&V consumption in mothers and children in a sample of 1,106 boys and girls in Grades 4-6 in 24 elementary schools in low-income, multiethnic neighborhoods in Montreal, Canada. Approximately 10% of girls and 19% of boys reported not having eaten any vegetables in the week prior to questionnaire administration; 53% of girls and 63% of boys did not consume whole fruits daily. Each unit increase in F&V consumption in mothers was associated with a 10% to 20% increase in F&V consumption in children. Interventions to improve F&V consumption should aim to improve awareness among parents of the importance of fruits and vegetables and of the impact of their own behavior on their children's F&V consumption.

Key Words: children, nutrition, fruits and vegetables consumption, multiethnic population

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