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I.Family - determinants of food choice, lifestyle and health
Start date
March 2012
End date
Juli 2017
Participants
over 10,000 children in Europe
Main goal
Promotion of healthy eating behaviour
Summary
Building on data gained from over 16,000 children in the IDEFICS study I.Family provided further insight into the most important influences on Europe’s young people, their lifestyle behaviour and their eating habits. The project’s acronym – I.Family – highlights the project’s focus on both the influences on the individual and on their family. I.Family did this by re-assessing families as their children moved into adolescence, identifying those families that have adopted a healthy approach to food and eating habits and those who have not. The project helped us understand the biological, behavioural, social and environmental factors that drive dietary behaviour as children journey towards adulthood.
Person responsible for the project: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Ahrens (i.family@leibniz-bips.de)
What do we want to achieve?
1
Understanding the interplay between barriers and main drivers of a healthy food choice.
2
Identifying predictors of unnecessary weight gain and cardio-metabolic risk by linking them to diet, physical activity and interacting factors.
3
Developing and conveying strategies to induce changes towards a healthy behaviour
Results
overweight
Rates of overweight vary widely between European regions – from around 40% of children aged between 2 and 10 in southern Italy to less than 10% in Belgium.
Status
Socio-economic status had a major effect on rates of overweight across Europe.
Gender
Girls are more likely to be overweight compared with boys.
Activity
Almost 70% of children do not get enough exercise.
Advertisement
Children exposed to commercial TV are more likely to consume sweetened drinks.
TV
Watching TV during meals, having a TV in the children’s bedroom and watching TV for more than 1 hour per day are all associated with being overweight.
Family
Family members are similar to each other in their weight status and body composition, risk factors for disease and what they eat.
Friends
The body weight of children and teenagers is related to those of their peers. Teenagers are particularly likely to eat more unhealthy foods if their friends do.
Keywords
#healthy food #physical activity #overweigh #children #adolescents
Further information
Feedback Tool
Would you like to give feedback on I.Family? Are you perhaps affected yourself or a relative and would like to provide information about the study? Please contact us using our contact form. We will get back to you as soon as possible.
Our partners
University of Gothenburg (UGOT) – Sweden
Helsingin Yliopisto – (UHEL) Finland
Universitat de les Illes Balears (UIB) – Spain
Pecsi Tudomanyegyetem / University of PECS (UPE) – Hungary
Universitair Medisch Centrum Utrecht (UMCU) – Netherlands
Research and Education Institute of Child Health (LBG REF) – Cyprus
Tervise Arengu Instituut (NIHD) – Estonia
Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale Dei Tumori (INT) – Italy
University of Bristol (UBR) – United Kingdom
Minerva Public Relations & Communications Ltd (MIN) – United Kingdom
Leibniz Institute for Prevention Research and Epidemiology (BIPS) – Germany
Gent Universiteit (UGENT) – Belgium
Progress I.Family
