Parental influences on children's dairy consumption: A Narrative Review.

OBJECTIVE
To review research on the influence of parent-related factors on children's dairy consumption.


DESIGN
A search of electronic databases and a narrative synthesis of the literature was conducted. English-language articles were included if they reported data relating to parental influences on children's consumption of dairy products and if statistical significance was reported.


SETTING
Studies were carried out in the Unites States (n=8) and in a range of countries across Europe (n=12) and Asia (n=5).


SUBJECTS
The subjects of this research were children aged between 2 and 12 years of age, from a range of geographical locations.


RESULTS
Twenty-five studies met the inclusion criteria. The studies examined children's dairy consumption in relation to parental socioeconomic status (education level and income) (n=12), home availability (n=2), home food environment (n=3), parental dairy consumption (n=4), parent feeding practices (n=3), parents' beliefs and attitudes (n=3) and parental nutrition knowledge (n=3). Results on the association between socioeconomic status and children's dairy consumption varied, however, studies reporting a significant association generally observed a positive relationship. Fifteen studies reported children's total dairy intake as an outcome measure, with the remaining studies reporting intake of milk or other dairy products as individual foods.


CONCLUSIONS
This review identified literature exploring a range of parental factors in relation to children's dairy intake. However, there were limited numbers of studies published within each category of modifiable factors. Further research on the parent-related determinants of dairy consumption in children is required in order to identify potential intervention targets in this age group.