Mothers' attitudes toward nutrition are related to daughters' but not to sons' plasma cholesterol levels.

OBJECTIVE

To examine the relationship between parents' attitudes toward nutrition and plasma lipid levels of their children.

DESIGN

Parents' nutrition attitudes were assessed with the Nutritional Attitude Scale, a self-report questionnaire measuring attitudes toward the adoption of a low-fat, low-cholesterol diet. Parents' and children's plasma lipid and lipoprotein levels were obtained. Data were collected during the baseline period and a 1-year follow-up of the Family Heart Study, a small community study of cholesterol-lowering via dietary change.

PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: Participants were 33 girls and 34 boys (aged 6 to 13 years), and their parents. They were a subsample of European-American, middle-class, Portland, Ore, families participating in the Family Heart Study.

STATISTICAL ANALYSES

Associations between parents' nutrition attitudes and plasma lipid levels of their children were evaluated using multiple linear regression analyses, controlling for the contribution of parents' lipid levels to those of their children.

RESULTS

Mothers' nutrition attitudes interacted with their daughters' ages, accounting for 14% of the variance in plasma total cholesterol level and 11% in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level in their daughters. Mothers' unhealthful nutrition attitudes were associated with elevated levels of plasma total and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels among older daughters, but not among younger daughters nor their sons. Fathers' nutrition attitudes were unrelated to their children's plasma lipid levels. Mothers' nutrition attitudes assessed at baseline remained a significant predictor of their daughters' lipid levels measured 1 year later.

APPLICATIONS/CONCLUSIONS: The previously reported relationships between adults' unhealthful nutrition attitudes and their own elevated plasma lipid levels appear to extend to that of their children. The association between mothers' nutrition attitudes and their daughters' lipid levels highlights the importance of focusing on nutrition attitudes when designing intervention programs to reduce plasma lipids and lipoproteins via dietary changes in the family.