A comparison of the home food environment among healthy weight, overweight, obese and post weight loss surgery mothers and their children using an open home food inventory
Date
2019
Authors
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Publisher
University of Delaware
Abstract
The primary aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine if the physical home food environment (availability of foods and beverages in the home) and the social home food environment (family meals, rules around eating, and parenting styles) differed by maternal weight status using an open home food inventory and self report questionnaires. ☐ Each maternal weight status group (healthy weight, overweight, obese, post weight loss surgery) included eight mothers for a total of 32 mothers with a child 6-12 years old. An open home food inventory was conducted by research personnel to record all food and beverage items available in each home. All items were entered into Nutrition Data Systems for Research (NDS-R) to determine total energy (kcals) and servings of fruits, vegetables, sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), and energy-dense snack foods available in the home. Questionnaires, administered during the home visit, were used to assess the social home food environment. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze differences between maternal weight status groups in the home food environment for kcals, servings of fruits, servings of vegetables, servings of energy-dense snack foods, and servings of SSBs. A chi-square test was used for categorical variables and an ANOVA was used for continuous variables to analyze the difference in the social home food environment variables (rules around eating, family meals, parenting styles, and parent child feeding attitudes and practices) between maternal weight status groups. If there were significant differences between maternal weight status groups post-hoc analyses were conducted. ☐ There was a significant difference for SSBs [F (3,28) = 4.06; p = 0.016] in the home food environment with mothers in the post weight loss surgery group having significantly fewer servings of SSBs available in the home compared to mothers in the obese group (p = 0.013), but not mothers with healthy weight or overweight. Availability of kcals, servings of fruits, servings of vegetables and servings of energy dense snack foods were not significantly different by maternal weight status group. The social home food environment was not significantly different between maternal weight status groups with the exception of permissive parenting style, where post weight loss surgery mothers were significantly less permissive than the obese group (34.0 ± 4.3), but not the healthy weight or overweight groups and parent perceived weight where healthy weight mothers perceived themselves as a healthier weight than post weight loss surgery mothers (p = 0.02), but not mothers with overweight or obesity. ☐ Given the recommendation to eliminate SSBs following bariatric surgery these data support that this change is being made within the home food environment. Limited differences between physical home food environments may warrant consideration of additional environmental and behavioral factors associated with weight outcomes.
Description
Keywords
Home food environment, Maternal weight status, Open home food inventory