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Breastfeeding, Nutrition, and Early Life Health (Oral Session 2)

(OR02-07-25) Preconception Diet Quality Trajectories and Food Parenting Among Fathers

Saturday, May 31, 2025
11:00 AM – 11:12 AM ET
Location: S230 E-H
Emerging Leaders in Nutrition Science Poster Competition
Objectives: To examine the association between fathers' preconception diet quality trajectories during adolescence and (a) their food parenting practices and (b) their children's adherence to dietary guidelines. We hypothesized that fathers with healthier adolescent dietary patterns would demonstrate more supportive food parenting practices and have children who were more likely to meet fruit and vegetable intake recommendations.

Methods: Data were drawn from 669 fathers participating in the Growing Up Today Study – Fathers & Families (GUTS-F&F). GUTS is an existing 30-year cohort study. Eligible participants for GUTS F&F were enrolled in GUTS, were fathers of children aged 1–6 years at recruitment (2021–2022), had at least two dietary assessments during adolescence (ages 10–18) and had data on sociodemographic factors (age, educational level, ethnicity), their child’s dietary intake (fruit, vegetable, fast food, and sweetened drinks), and their food parenting practices (monitoring, food environment, encouraging balance and variety, modeling). Fathers’ diet quality during adolescence was evaluated using the Healthy Eating Index 2020 (HEI-2020); diet quality trajectories were identified through sequence analysis and hierarchical clustering. The association between adolescent diet quality trajectories and fathers’ food parenting practices was analyzed using ordinal logistic regression, with model fit assessed via the Brant test.

Results: Three adolescent diet quality trajectories were identified: Low Adherence to HEI (44.1%), Declining Adherence to HEI (39.8%), and Increasing Adherence to HEI (16.1%). Fathers in the increasing adherence group had higher odds of supportive food parenting practices in Modeling (OR = 1.90, 95% CI [1.23–2.95]) and Monitoring (OR = 1.60, 95% CI [1.05–2.45]), compared to those in the low adherence group; a higher percentage of children of increasing-adherence fathers had higher adherence to dietary intake recommendations for fruits (62%) and vegetables (38%) than children of fathers in the low (54% F, 29% V) and declining (53% F, 23% V) adherence groups.

Conclusions: Improving adherence to HEI-2020 among adolescent boys during the preconception period can positively influence future fathers' food parenting practices with their offspring.

Funding Sources: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development