Fathers’ preconception diet quality and their children’s fruit and vegetable intake: longitudinal mediation through the home food environment

Abstract Background Food parenting practices shape children’s dietary intake, yet the intergenerational effects of fathers’ preconception dietary patterns remain understudied. This study examined whether fathers’ diet quality patterns during adolescence are associated with their children’s fruit and vegetable intake and whether the home food environment, specifically structure-based food parenting practices and family meal frequency, mediate these associations. Methods Data were drawn from the Fathers & Families (F&F) study, a US longitudinal cohort with a subsample recruited from the Growing Up Today Study (GUTS). The analytic sample included 478 fathers of children aged 2-6 years who completed assessments at Time 1 (2021–2022) and Time 2 (2022–2023). Fathers’ diet quality patterns during adolescence (ages 10–18 years)—Low, Declining, and Increasing healthy eating—were previously derived from repeated Youth/Adolescent Food Frequency Questionnaires (1996–2011). Fathers reported structure-based food parenting practices and family meal frequency at Time 1, and children’s fruit and vegetable intake at Time 2. Mediation was tested using structural equation modeling with inverse probability of censoring weights. Results Children of fathers in the Increasing healthy eating pattern (vs. Low) were 22.03 percentage points (pp; 95%CI: 10.82–33.24) more likely to consume vegetables ≥2 times/day, comprising a direct effect of 19.78pp (95%CI: 8.73–30.82) and an indirect effect through fathers’ greater use of structure-based food parenting practices of 2.86pp (95%CI: 0.21–5.52). Children of fathers in the Increasing pattern (vs. Low) were also 3.47pp (95%CI: 0.27–6.67) more likely to consume fruits ≥2 times/day through an indirect effect via fathers’ greater use of structure-based food parenting practices. Although family meal frequency did not mediate these associations, it was independently associated with a greater likelihood of children consuming fruits (β=0.096, 95%CI: 0.032–0.160) and vegetables (β=0.127, 95%CI: 0.053–0.200) ≥2 times/day. Conclusions Fathers’ healthier dietary patterns established during adolescence were associated with their children’s vegetable intake ≥2 times/day, a relationship partly mediated by structure-based food parenting practices, and were also indirectly associated with children’s fruit intake. These findings support a Life Course Perspective, indicating that promoting healthy eating during adolescence may yield intergenerational benefits for offspring dietary intake later in life.