Friends and Family: How African-American Adolescents' Perceptions of Dietary Beliefs and Behaviors of Others Relate to Diet Quality.

BACKGROUND: Adolescents' dietary intake often fails to meet national dietary guidelines, especially among low-income African-American youth. The dietary habits established in adolescence are likely to continue into adulthood, and a poor-quality diet increases the risk of developing obesity and chronic disease. Based on principles from ecological and social-cognitive behavior change health theories, perceptions of parental beliefs about healthy eating, perceptions of peer eating behaviors, and parental monitoring of what adolescents eat may positively influence adolescent diet quality. OBJECTIVE: The purposes of this study were to determine whether perceived parental beliefs about nutrition, perceived peer eating behaviors, and reported parental monitoring of the adolescent diet were related to African-American adolescent diet quality and whether these relationships were moderated by adolescent age or sex. DESIGN: This secondary cross-sectional study used baseline data (2002 to 2004) from an urban community sample of low-income adolescents participating in a health promotion trial. PARTICIPANTS/SETTING: Participants were 216 African-American adolescent-caregiver dyads in Baltimore, MD. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The 2010 Healthy Eating Index was used to estimate adolescent diet quality. STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED: Analyses included correlations, t tests, age- and sex-by-perception regression interactions, and multivariate regressions adjusted for body mass index-for-age percentile, caregiver weight status, and caregiver depressive symptoms. RESULTS: Higher diet quality scores were related to higher levels of perceived parental and peer support for healthy eating behaviors among adolescents (ß=.21; P<0.05; ß=.15; P<0.05, respectively) and to caregiver reports of parental monitoring of adolescent dietary behavior (ß=1.38, P<0.01). Findings were not moderated by age or sex. CONCLUSIONS: Consistent with ecological and social-cognitive theories, adolescents look to their friends and family in making healthy food choices. The relationships uncovered by this study describe some of the contextual, interpersonal influences associated with diet quality among low-income, urban African-American adolescents and warrant further exploration in future intervention studies.

Comparison of the HEI and HEI-2010 Diet Quality Measures in Association with Chronic Disease Risk among Low-Income, African American Urban Youth in Baltimore, Maryland.

OBJECTIVE: Overall diet patterns may be a better predictor of disease risk than specific nutrients or individual foods. The purpose of this study is to examine how overall diet patterns relate to nutritional intake, body composition, and physiological measures of chronic disease risk among low-income, urban African American adolescents. METHODS: Cross-sectional data were collected from two samples of African American adolescents (n = 317) from a low-income urban community, including dietary intake using the food frequency Youth/Adolescent Questionnaire and anthropometric measures. Serum cholesterol, serum lipoproteins, and glucose tolerance were measured in a subsample. Means testing compared differences in Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and Healthy Eating Index-2010 (HEI-2010) component and total scores. Pearson correlations examined how HEI and HEI-2010 scores related to nutrient, food intakes, and markers of disease risk, including body mass index, percent body fat, abdominal fat, serum cholesterol, serum lipoproteins, and impaired glucose tolerance. Fisher R-Z transformations compared magnitude differences between HEI and HEI-2010 correlations to nutritional intake and chronic disease risk. RESULTS: Both HEI and HEI-2010 scores were positively associated with micronutrient intakes. Higher HEI scores were inversely related to serum cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, impaired glucose tolerance, percent body fat, and percent abdominal fat. HEI-2010 scores were not related to biomarkers of chronic disease risk. CONCLUSIONS: Compared to the HEI-2010, the HEI is a better indicator of chronic disease risk among low-income, urban African American adolescents.

The healthy eating index and youth healthy eating index are unique, nonredundant measures of diet quality among low-income, African American adolescents.

Chronic disease is related to poor diet quality. The Healthy Eating Index (HEI) was developed to assess diet quality. The Youth HEI (YHEI) is an adaptation of the HEI for use with children and adolescents. The objectives were to compare HEI and YHEI scores among adolescents at risk for chronic disease and to compare associations between the scores and health indicators. This cross-sectional study included 2 low-income, urban African American adolescent samples (Challenge, n = 196; Three Generation, n = 121). HEI and YHEI scores were calculated from a FFQ and compared with BMI, body composition, and micronutrient, energy, and dietary intakes. YHEI scores were lower than HEI scores across both adolescent samples (Challenge, 48.94 +/- 9.31 vs. 62.83 +/- 11.75; Three Generation, 47.08 +/- 9.65 vs. 59.93 +/- 11.27; P < 0.001). Females (64.47 +/- 11.70) had higher HEI scores than males (61.15 +/- 11.61) (P < 0.05), but there was no gender difference in YHEI scores. HEI and YHEI scores were associated with higher micronutrient and total energy intakes (r = 0.19-0.76; P < 0.05). Higher percent body/abdominal fat was associated with lower HEI scores (r = -0.17 to -0.19; P < 0.05) but not with YHEI scores. BMI was not associated with either HEI or YHEI scores. In conclusion, many adolescents were consuming diets that placed them at risk for developing chronic disease. Although both the HEI and YHEI are useful in assessing diet quality, the HEI is inversely associated with body composition, a predictor of chronic disease, and accounts for gender differences in the Dietary Guidelines, whereas the YHEI discounts nutrient-poor, energy-dense foods.