Relationships Between Food Security, Fruit and Vegetable Availability, and Fruit and Vegetable Intake in Elementary Children and Their Parents

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this cross-sectional analysis is to explore baseline findings on the relationships between food security, fruit and vegetable availability, and fruit and vegetable intake in elementary children and their parents before the start of a school-garden program.

Methods: Third-grade students (n = 154) and their parents were recruited from a Texas elementary school that participates in a school-garden program. Prior to the start of the program, student participants along with one of their parents completed the National Cancer Institute's All-Day Screener to assess fruit, juice, and vegetable intake. Parent participants also completed other validated questionnaires to assess home availability of fruits and vegetables and food security. Regression and ANOVA were used to examine the relationships between food security, fruit and vegetable availability at home, and fruit and vegetable intake in parent and student participants.

Results: A total of 64 students provided consent, and 39 students (∼58% female), each with one parent (∼97% female), completed the questionnaires. Parents who reported low food security had significantly greater total fruit and vegetable intake (4.7 servings/day) along with their children (6.0 servings/day) compared with parents (2.8 servings/day) and children (3.3 servings/day) with high food security. Fruit availability at home was positively correlated with fruit intake in parents (β = 0.18; P = .0261; R² = 0.13; ) but not children (P = .8931). No significant associations were found between vegetable availability and vegetable intake in student or parent participants.

Conclusions: These baseline findings indicate greater fruit and vegetable intake for children and parents with low food security, which may be due to differences in fruit intake rather than vegetable intake. Although greater fruit intake was associated with fruit availability in the home for parents, this association was not observed for children.

Funding sources: None.