PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Laroche, Helena H.
AU  - Hofer, Timothy P.
AU  - Davis, Matthew M.
TI  - Adult Fat Intake Associated with the Presence of Children in Households: Findings from NHANES III
AID  - 10.3122/jabfm.2007.01.060085
DP  - 2007 Jan 01
TA  - The Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine
PG  - 9--15
VI  - 20
IP  - 1
4099  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/20/1/9.short
4100  - http://www.jabfm.org/content/20/1/9.full
SO  - J Am Board Fam Med2007 Jan 01; 20
AB  - Background: Increasing prevalence of obesity and lifestyle related chronic disease is fundamentally tied to Americans’ poor eating habits. Family environment, including the presence of children, may affect adults’ diet behavior.Objective: To compare dietary fat intake between adults with and without minor children in the home.Design: Secondary analysis of cross-sectional survey data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III (NHANES III) public use dataset.Subjects: Adults aged 17 to 65 years with and without children younger than 17 years old in the home.Outcome variables: Intake of total fat, saturated fat, and kilocalories based on a 24-hour dietary recall and a selection of high-fat foods from a food frequency questionnaire.Methods: Linear and logistic regression, accounting for the sample weights and complex survey design.Results: The presence of children in the household was associated with significantly higher adjusted total fat consumption for adults (4.9 g/24 hours [95% CI: 0.8, 9.1]) and significantly higher adjusted saturated fat consumption (1.7 g/24 hours [0.3, 3.3]). Adults with children ate many high-fat foods more frequently than adults without children, including salty snacks, pizza, cheese, beef, ice cream, cakes/cookies, bacon/sausage/processed meats, and peanuts.Conclusions: The presence of children in the home may affect adults’ diets. Providers should emphasize dietary discretion for the entire family.