A new study looked at 70 families in South Korea to understand how similar children’s eating habits are to their mothers’ eating habits. Researchers found that while kids and their moms had similar overall diet quality scores, there was a clear connection between what mothers ate and what their children ate. The study suggests that parents play a huge role in shaping their children’s food choices, especially in families dealing with childhood obesity. This finding is important because it shows that helping families improve their eating habits together—rather than just focusing on the child—might be a better approach to fighting childhood obesity.

The Quick Take

  • What they studied: Do children with obesity eat similarly to their mothers, and does a mother’s diet quality affect her child’s diet quality?
  • Who participated: 70 mother-child pairs from South Korea where the children were between 8-16 years old and had obesity. Obesity was defined as being heavier than 95% of other children the same age and height.
  • Key finding: Children and their mothers had similar overall diet quality scores. More importantly, there was a clear connection between what mothers ate and what their children ate—when mothers had better eating habits, their children tended to have better eating habits too (correlation scores ranged from 0.29 to 0.45, all statistically significant).
  • What it means for you: If you’re a parent trying to help your child eat better, improving your own eating habits may be one of the most powerful things you can do. Children naturally copy what their parents do, especially when it comes to food choices at home. However, this study was done in South Korea with a small group, so results may not apply exactly the same way everywhere.

The Research Details

Researchers recruited 70 families with children aged 8-16 years who had obesity and their mothers from Seoul and Gyeonggi Province in South Korea. They asked each family to write down everything they ate for 3 days, which is a common way nutritionists measure what people actually eat. They then scored each person’s diet quality using an international scoring system that looks at things like variety (eating different foods), adequacy (getting enough nutrients), and moderation (not eating too much of unhealthy foods).

The researchers compared the diet quality scores between mothers and children to see if they were similar. They also used statistical tests to see if there was a relationship between a mother’s diet quality and her child’s diet quality. This type of study is called a cross-sectional study because it looks at information collected at one point in time rather than following people over months or years.

Understanding whether children’s eating habits mirror their parents’ habits is important for designing better obesity prevention programs. If children simply copy what their parents eat, then teaching parents about healthy eating might be more effective than only teaching children. This study helps explain why family-based approaches to treating childhood obesity might work better than programs that focus only on the child.

This study has some strengths: it used a validated diet quality scoring system and looked at actual food records rather than just asking people to remember what they ate. However, the study also has limitations. The sample size is relatively small (70 families), and all participants were from one region in South Korea, so the results may not apply to other countries or cultures with different food environments. The study only collected food information for 3 days, which may not represent typical eating patterns. Additionally, the study is observational, meaning it shows relationships between variables but cannot prove that a mother’s diet directly causes a child’s diet quality.

What the Results Show

The main finding was that mothers and their children with obesity had similar overall diet quality scores—meaning there was no significant difference in how healthy their diets were overall. However, when researchers looked more closely at the relationship between individual mothers and their children, they found positive correlations across all diet quality measures.

Specifically, the correlation between mothers’ and children’s total diet quality scores was 0.30 (moderate positive relationship). When looking at specific diet components, the correlations were: variety (0.29), adequacy of nutrients (0.43), moderation in portion sizes (0.45), and overall balance (0.30). All of these correlations were statistically significant, meaning they were unlikely to have happened by chance.

When researchers used statistical modeling to predict how much a mother’s diet quality influenced her child’s diet quality, they found that maternal diet quality was indeed a significant predictor of the child’s diet quality. This means that as mothers’ diet quality improved, their children’s diet quality tended to improve as well.

The study examined multiple aspects of diet quality rather than just looking at single nutrients or foods. The fact that the strongest correlation was in the ‘moderation’ category (0.45) suggests that children particularly mirror their mothers’ ability to control portion sizes and limit unhealthy foods. The ‘adequacy’ correlation (0.43) was also relatively strong, suggesting children tend to eat similarly varied diets to their mothers in terms of getting enough different nutrients.

This research aligns with existing studies showing that family environment and parental behaviors are major influences on children’s eating habits. Previous research has shown that obesity tends to run in families, but this study helps clarify that it’s not just genetics—the shared food environment and parental modeling play significant roles. The moderate correlations found in this study are consistent with other research showing that while parents strongly influence children’s eating, other factors (like peer influence, school food options, and individual preferences) also matter.

The study was conducted only in South Korea with 70 families, so results may not apply to other countries with different food cultures and availability. The food records were only collected for 3 days, which may not represent typical eating patterns throughout the year. The study didn’t include fathers or other family members who might influence children’s eating. The study is observational, so it shows relationships but cannot prove cause-and-effect. Additionally, the study only included families with children who already had obesity, so results may not apply to families with children of normal weight.

The Bottom Line

Parents concerned about their children’s eating habits should focus on improving their own diet quality as a primary intervention strategy. This could include eating more variety of foods, controlling portion sizes, and modeling healthy eating behaviors. These recommendations have moderate confidence based on this study, but should be combined with other evidence-based approaches like increasing physical activity and reducing sugary drinks. Parents should not assume that only changing their child’s diet will be effective; family-wide changes appear more promising.

This research is most relevant for parents of children with obesity, healthcare providers treating childhood obesity, and public health professionals designing obesity prevention programs. It’s particularly important for families where multiple members struggle with weight or unhealthy eating. The findings may be less directly applicable to families in countries with very different food cultures than South Korea, though the general principle likely applies broadly. This research is less relevant for families where children are already at healthy weights, though the principles of modeling healthy eating still apply.

Changes in eating habits typically take 2-4 weeks to become noticeable, but meaningful improvements in diet quality and potential weight changes may take 2-3 months to become apparent. Family-based changes often take longer than individual changes because multiple people need to adjust their habits together. Consistency is more important than perfection—small, sustainable changes are better than dramatic changes that can’t be maintained.

Want to Apply This Research?

  • Track both parent and child meals together for 3-day periods monthly. Specifically, log meals using a food diary feature and score diet quality using the app’s built-in assessment tool. Compare parent-child scores to see if improvements in parental diet quality correlate with improvements in child diet quality over time.
  • Use the app’s family meal planning feature to create shared meal plans where parents and children eat the same healthy meals together. Set weekly goals for dietary variety (trying new foods), adequacy (including all food groups), and moderation (appropriate portion sizes). Create accountability by having family members log meals together and celebrate weekly improvements as a family.
  • Establish a monthly check-in where the family reviews their combined diet quality scores. Track changes in specific categories (variety, adequacy, moderation) rather than just overall scores. Use the app’s trend feature to visualize whether parental diet improvements precede child diet improvements, reinforcing the parent-modeling concept. Set family-based goals rather than individual goals to emphasize the shared nature of eating habits.

This research shows a relationship between mothers’ and children’s eating habits but does not prove that changing a parent’s diet will directly cause a child’s diet to improve. This study was conducted in South Korea with a small sample size and may not apply equally to all populations. These findings should not replace professional medical advice from a doctor or registered dietitian. If you or your child have obesity or concerns about eating habits, consult with a healthcare provider for personalized recommendations. This research is observational and cannot establish cause-and-effect relationships. Individual results will vary based on many factors including genetics, activity level, overall lifestyle, and food environment.