Family Income And Its Impact On Providing Healthy Choices - Essay Example

Family Income And Its Impact On Providing Healthy ChoicesMuch has been said about the correlation of the socio-economic status of the parents with the dietary intake of the adolescents. It has been put forward that if the income of the family is higher, then it is only predictable that the diet of the adolescents living in the household will be healthier, with more fruit and vegetable intake. This dietary trend, it is surmised, will also be inversely present in low-income households.Bere, Lenthe, Klepp, and Brug conducted a study to find the correlation of these two factors in Norwegian households.

They conducted a survey of children of 12.5 mean age and then repeated it three years later when the children had become young adolescents of 15.5 mean age (612). They discovered that there was a direct relationship between family income and provision of healthy dietary choices, with both being directly proportional to each other. It was surmised that as fruits and vegetables are more expensive to buy, therefore, it is only natural that those families who are earning more are easily able to buy them.

This showed that it was mainly because of a lack of availability of such foods in the households with low incomes that the adolescents belonging to low-income households were not able to maintain a healthier diet. Bere et al. upon observing adolescents coming from low-education households noticed that when healthy foods were given in the school environment, as part of a free school fruit program, the diet of adolescents from all backgrounds improved (614).This was also the finding of the study conducted by Xie et al.

, whereby they found that the intake of dairy products, protein, calcium, and polyunsaturated fat was higher in subjects from higher-income families (35). This was also reiterated by Riediger, Shooshtari, and Moghadasian. 2) Family education level and their awareness of nutrition. It is believed that as the family education level decreases, the awareness toward nutrition also decreases, resulting in the adolescents belonging to such households having a poor diet. This assertion is worth investigating, as this assertion implies that those parents who are not well educated, lack the knowledgeable wherewithal to provide their adolescents with a healthy diet.

Xie, Gilliland, Li, and Rockett found that parents who had a higher level of education provided their children with a healthier diet, with more healthy foods included and unhealthy foods excluded. The study by Riediger, Shooshtar, and Moghadasian also came to the conclusion that the education level of the household is a major influence on the diet of the adolescents, with both being directly proportional to each other. This is also reiterated by the research of Bere et al.It has been observed by these studies that often the educational level of the household determines the income level thereof.

So it is not so much the lack of awareness amongst the less educated households, but lack of availability of such foods in such households that attributes to the poorer food intake the adolescents.However, Bere et al. have also found that the adolescents coming from a household with higher education have more knowledge about the daily recommendations of food intake, as well as a stronger intention to eat more fruits and vegetables (613). Another significant difference was that adolescents from such households had stronger role models with regard to a healthy diet (613).

This clearly suggests that there is a direct link between household education and awareness, and therefore abidance, of good nutrition. Perhaps a good suggestion in this regard would be to hold awareness programs for adolescents from low education households.Works CitedBere, Elling, Frank van Lenthe, Knut-Inge Klepp, and Johannes Brug. “Why do Parents' Education Level and Income Affect a number of Fruits and Vegetable Adolescents Eat?” European Journal of Public Health 18.6 (2008): 611-655. Web. 25 March 2010.

Riediger, Natalie Diane, Shahin Shooshtari, and Mohammed Hassan Moghadasian. “The Influence of Sociodemographic Factors on Patterns of Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in Canadian Adolescents.” Journal of the American Dietetic Association 107.9 (2007): 1511-1518. Print.Xie, Bin, Frank D. Gilliland, Yu-Fen Li, and Helaine R. H. Rockett. “Effects of Ethnicity, Family Income, and Education on Dietary Intake among Adolescents.” Preventive Medicine 36.1 (2003): 30-40. Print.