title: Maternal educational level and preschool children's consumption of high-calorie snacks and sugar-containing beverages: mediation by the family food environment.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the associations between maternal educational level and preschoolers' consumption of high-calorie snacks and sugar-containing beverages, and to assess the mediating effects of variables relating to the family food environment.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed data from 2814 native Dutch preschoolers enrolled in a birth cohort study in Rotterdam (the Netherlands), between 2002 and 2006. Logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios of snacking ≥ 2 times/day and consuming sugar-containing beverages ≥ 3 glasses/day for children of mothers with low, mid-low, and mid-high educational levels (reference group: high educational level), before and after adjustment for mediators.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Children of low and mid-low educated mothers were significantly more likely to consume excessive amounts of high-calorie snacks and sugar-containing beverages compared with children of high educated mothers, with the highest odds in children of low educated mothers (OR: 2.44; 95% CI: 1.84, 3.23 and OR: 2.46; 95% CI: 1.87, 3.24 respectively). Parental feeding practices, parental consumption of sugar-containing beverages, and children's television time partly explained these associations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Maternal educational level is inversely related to preschoolers' consumption of high-calorie snacks and sugar-containing beverages. Targeting the family food environment may be an effective way of reducing educational inequalities in children's unhealthy dietary behaviors.
authors.affiliation: The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Public Health, Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Electronic address: a.wijtzes@erasmusmc.nl.
authors.forename: Anne I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Wijtzes
authors.forename: Wilma
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.forename: Pauline W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.forename: Vincent W V
authors.initials: VW
authors.lastname: Jaddoe
authors.forename: Albert
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hofman
authors.forename: Hein
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Raat
mesh_terms: D001628:Beverages; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D019422:Dietary Sucrose / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D004522:Educational Status; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D016017:Odds Ratio; D057185:Sedentary Behavior; D062410:Snacks; D012931:Social Environment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013690:Television
chemical_list: D019422:Dietary Sucrose
keywords: Beverage; Education; Preschool; Snack; Socioeconomic