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Healthy and Sustainable Dietary Patterns in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review

Beatriz Teixeira1,2,3, Cláudia Afonso1,2,3, Sara Rodrigues1,2,3

  • 1Faculty of Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal.

Advances in Nutrition (Bethesda, Md.)
|December 1, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Adhering to healthy and sustainable diets in children is crucial for preventing adult noncommunicable diseases. While higher adherence shows health benefits, current measurement tools need more validation for pediatric use and sustainability proof.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Nutrition
  • Public Health
  • Dietary Pattern Research

Background:

  • Healthy and sustainable dietary patterns in childhood are vital for preventing adult noncommunicable diseases.
  • Existing research lacks a comprehensive summary of pediatric dietary patterns and their adherence measures.
  • The need for validated tools to assess adherence to healthy and sustainable diets in children is growing.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To systematically review healthy and/or sustainable dietary patterns for pediatric use.
  • To evaluate adherence measurement instruments for these dietary patterns in children and adolescents.
  • To identify health benefits linked to adherence and assess the sustainability of current measurement tools.

Main Methods:

  • Systematic literature search on Medline, Scopus, and Web of Science (2010-2021).
  • Included 128 articles focusing on participants aged 2-17 years with a priori defined healthy/sustainable dietary patterns.
  • Followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

Main Results:

  • Identified 50 instruments with 14 adaptations for measuring adherence to pediatric dietary patterns; the Mediterranean Diet was most studied.
  • Adherence varied globally, with most instruments showing limited validation in pediatric populations.
  • Higher adherence correlated with reduced body fat, waist circumference, blood pressure, and metabolic risk, but BMI association was inconsistent.

Conclusions:

  • Current adherence measurement tools for pediatric healthy/sustainable diets require further validation and country-specific testing.
  • No instruments have proven sustainability characteristics; development of new or adapted tools is necessary.
  • Prospective studies are needed to confirm temporal relationships between adherence and health outcomes.

Keywords:
adolescentchildrendietfeeding behaviorshealthsustainabilitysystematic review

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