Parental influences on children’s dairy products consumption: a narrative review

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

A search of electronic databases and a narrative synthesis of the literature were 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.

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

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

Twenty-five studies met the inclusion criteria. The studies examined children’s dairy products consumption in relation to parental socio-economic status (education level and income) (n 12), home availability (n 2), home food environment (n 3), parental dairy products 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 socio-economic status and children’s dairy products consumption varied; however, studies reporting a significant association generally observed a positive relationship. Fifteen studies reported children’s total dairy products intake as an outcome measure, with the remaining studies reporting intake of milk or other dairy products as individual foods.

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