ResearchDialogue_I.Family

I.Family - determinants of food choice, lifestyle and health

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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

100%
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