[The influence of hygiene and cultural characteristics of the family environment on dietary patterns of school children].
BACKGROUND: The diet of school aged children constitutes one of the basic pillars on which the health of an individual may be placed. The influence of the parents in dietary habits of children is absolute. The aim of the present study was to analyze what hygienic-cultural aspects of the familial environment are most linked to the diet of school children. METHODS: A study of non paired cases and controls was carried out in 48 children of 6-7 years of age (cases) with maximum consumption of cold meats and minimum consumption of vegetables and lettuce (universe = 131 children) versus a double control group of 34 children with inverse dietary patterns and 83 children who did not fulfill inclusion criteria of cases. Personal cleanliness and washing habits, attitudes towards television viewing, parental consumption of cigarettes and alcohol and sex education were also analyzed. RESULTS: Multivariant analysis identified a smoking father as a risk factor of worse diet (OR = 3.3, p = 0.016), with sex education received at home being associated with a decrease of 70% in the probability of having a bad diet (OR = 0.3, p = 0.016) on using the restricted control group. The smoker father was the only circumstance associated to bad diet on including the remaining children of the universe as controls (OR = 2.6, p = 0.018). CONCLUSIONS: The diet of school children seems to be related with the global attitude of the family with regard to health. Smoking habit of the father may represent a negative marker of food preferences with regard to quality of diet.