CJFST.2018.10.1.15

Original scientific paper                                                                                                                                                           DOI: 10.17508/CJFST.2018.10.1.15

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

GRETA KREŠIĆ1,4, GORDANA KENĐEL JOVANOVIĆ2, SANDRA PAVIČIĆ ŽEŽELJ2, JELKA PLEADIN3, NIKOLINA LIOVIĆ1, KATARINA PLEPEL4**

1University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Department of Food and Nutrition, Primorska 42, Opatija, Croatia
2Teaching Institute of Public Health of Primorsko-Goranska County, Department of Health Ecology, Krešimirova 52a, Rijeka, Croatia
3Croatian Veterinary Institute, Laboratory for Analytical Chemistry, Savska cesta 143, Zagreb, Croatia
4University of Rijeka, Faculty of Health Studies, Viktora Cara Emina 5, Rijeka, Croatia
4** student, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Health Studies, Viktora Cara Emina 5, Rijeka, Croatia

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT
Article history:
Received: January 26, 2018
Accepted: May 14, 2018
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.
Keywords:
adolescents,
cereals,
home environment,
Mediterranean diet,
parents