Childhood obesity in the family environment: Family rules and the diet quality of New Brunswick school children

The purpose of this research was to explore and quantify modifiable risk factors for childhood obesity that exist within the family environment. These risk factors included diet quality, family rules, and food procurement at school.; Sixty-one families (24%) participated in this survey. The mean Weighted Summed Diet Quality Index was 6.30 on a scale of 0 to 10. Only 20% of children in the sample consumed the minimum recommended number of servings from 3 or more food groups, while 49% consumed the minimum number of recommended servings from 1 or fewer food groups.; This research supports the contention that the family environment has the power to impact children's diet quality. Parents with healthy child-feeding practices who encourage and supervise an appropriate level of dietary independence were more likely to have children with better diet quality. Given the multitude of competing and contradictory nutrition messages that exists in the larger environment, parents need to work even harder to create a family environment where children have both the opportunity and the encouragement to consume a good quality diet. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)...