Parental adherence to Mediterranean diet is associated with their adolescents´ cereals intake

• Main Authors: GRETA KREŠIĆ, GORDANA KENĐEL JOVANOVIĆ, SANDRA PAVIČIĆ ŽEŽELJ, JELKA PLEADIN, NIKOLINA LIOVIĆ, KATARINA PLEPEL
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Food Technology Osijek 2018-01-01
• Series: Croatian Journal of Food Science and Technology
• Online Access: http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/295315
• ISSN: 1847-3466; 1848-9923

The Mediterranean diet (MD), abundant in whole grains, is known to be one of the healthiest dietary patterns. Given the health benefits of whole grain cereals as a rich source of nutrients and phytochemicals, this study examined parental adherence to MD and its association with their adolescents’ cereals intake, in 203 parent-adolescent dyads. Adherence to MD was evaluated using the Mediterranean Diet Quality Index for adolescents (13.5±1.2y) and the Short Mediterranean Diet Questionnaire for parents (41.53±5.99y). Although the level of the parents’ adherence to MD did not significantly influence the adolescents´ weekly consumption frequency of pasta and rice, adolescents whose parents had higher adherence to MD (44.3%) more often ate cereals or grains for breakfast (p=0.045) and less frequently, commercially baked goods or pastries (p=0.043). Adolescents of parents who had lower adherence to MD (55.7%) stated that they would eat more whole grain bakery products (p=0.049) and more breakfast cereals (p=0.039) if those foods were more often available at home. Adolescents with parents who had higher adherence to MD stated that they were more often encouraged by their parents to eat whole grain bakery products (p=0.030), compared with their counterparts whose parents had lower adherence to MD. With this study, we revealed that food environment and parental eating behaviour are notable factors that influence adolescents’ dietary intake. Disease prevention health programs should focus more strongly on encouraging parents to adopt MD features in their family food environment.