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Nutrition knowledge and its relation with dietary behaviour in children and adolescents: a systematic review

  • Sunaina Thakur ORCID logo EMAIL logo and Pulkit Mathur ORCID logo
Published/Copyright: February 15, 2021
International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health
From the journal International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health Volume 34 Issue 6

Abstract

Objectives

This review explored the relationship between knowledge among children and adolescents and their dietary behaviour.

Content

Potentially eligible original research articles were identified through a systematic search in PubMed, SCOPUS, Web of Science and WHO Virtual Health Library from 2000 to 2018. From the initial search, a total of 7,258 research articles were obtained. Duplicate studies were identified and removed. Observational studies on children and adolescents (5–19 years) of any gender, ethnicity and country were included in which the outcome measured was either a scoring of/ association between nutrition knowledge and practices. After screening using the inclusion criteria, 13 studies were selected for this paper.

Summary and Outlook

Four studies reported non-significant association between overall nutrition knowledge and practices. Only two studies found a significant association, out of which one showed a weak association highlighting that nutrition knowledge is not sufficient to result in healthy eating. Other factors which showed significant but weak associations with knowledge/practices included age, gender, nutritional status and lifestyle, peer influence, parents’/guardians’ knowledge, education and occupation level. The causal relationship couldn’t be examined in the present review due to the cross-sectional nature of the studies. Besides imparting knowledge through nutrition education interventions, there is a need for holistic behaviour change strategies including supporting food skills like menu planning, food shopping and cooking to encourage healthy eating habits among children. These interventions should target children from an early age, involving family/parents, teachers and peers to facilitate improvement in the food environment for sustainable change.

Keywords: behaviour change; eating behaviour; food environment; food skills; nutrition education
Corresponding author: Sunaina Thakur, Department of Food and Nutrition, Lady Irwin College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India, E-mail:

Funding source: University Grant Commission

Award Identifier / Grant number: 1567/(NET-JAN 2017)

  1. Research funding: The corresponding author is in receipt of a Junior Research Fellowship from University Grant Commission (UGC), India for her PhD research work. However, UGC had no role in writing of this review paper. JRF award letter reference number- UCC-Ref. No.: 1567/(NET-JAN 2017).

  2. Author contributions: All authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  3. Competing interests: Authors state no conflict of interest.

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Received: 2020-07-26
Accepted: 2020-12-31
Published Online: 2021-02-15

© 2021 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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  3. Pooled prevalence estimates of malocclusion among Indian children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis
  4. Nutrition knowledge and its relation with dietary behaviour in children and adolescents: a systematic review
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  15. Association between sitting posture on school furniture and spinal changes in adolescents
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https://doi.org/10.1515/ijamh-2020-0192
Keywords for this article
behaviour change; eating behaviour; food environment; food skills; nutrition education

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Reviews
  3. Pooled prevalence estimates of malocclusion among Indian children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis
  4. Nutrition knowledge and its relation with dietary behaviour in children and adolescents: a systematic review
  5. Original Articles
  6. Water polo-related injuries among adolescents and young adults treated at emergency departments
  7. Service evaluation and retrospective audit of electronic HEEADSSS (e-HEEADSSS) screening device in paediatric inpatient service in Western Australia
  8. Association between intelligent quotient and oral health conditions among 13–15 year old intellectually disabled children
  9. To be or not to be in the social media arena? The perspective of healthcare providers working within adolescent and young adult oncology in Switzerland
  10. Human papillomavirus vaccine series follow-through: comparison of four clinics in an academic medical center
  11. Oral health knowledge, attitude and practice among adolescents in Kuwait
  12. Identifying challenges in promoting adolescent preventive health care in the primary care setting of urban Japan
  13. Health profile with body mass index and physical fitness in Swedish adolescents: a cross-sectional study
  14. Psychodermatologic pathology in adolescents: findings from the Colombian National Mental Health Survey
  15. Association between sitting posture on school furniture and spinal changes in adolescents
  16. Influence of dietary and activity patterns on weight status of Ukrainian school aged children
  17. A national guideline for youth-friendly health services developed by chronically ill young people and health care professionals – a Delphi study
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