ABSTRACT

The lack of a consumers segmentation instrument based on dietary habits, and shareable at an international level, is symptomatic of weakness, since it suggests the need for a greater commitment in the definition of a reliable and effective continuous monitoring system (Counihan and Van Esterik, 2008; Russo, 2009). Having the target to monitor about 23,000 Milanese families eating styles, the research focused on the connection between the parents' and children's eating habits, also trying to evaluate the consequences of daily habits and lifestyles on the consuming behaviour. Among the variables taken into consideration, there are: sedentariness degree, frequency and duration of the time spent watching TV, influence of nutrition education plans analogous to those offered by school, influence of the peers, ethnic and cultural distinctions.

METHODA questionnaire was the main tool used for the survey purposes: in detail, what was used was a questionnaire composed by 29 questions, which was self-administered to a group of grown-up persons, all of them members of the same families of the children attending Milan primary schools' first classes. The questionnaire was sent to 109 primary schools through the catering service. 45,000 questionnaires have been distributed and 23,275 of them have been re-collected.Thanks to the questionnaire administration, it was possible to determine the alimentary habits, lifestyles and anthropometric measurements (weight and height data) of a large group of families from about 3,000 different ethnic groups. The questionnaire was constituted by 29 items, concerning 4 meaning areas: - In the first part of the questionnaire, socio-demographic aspects - including nationality, family group composition and citizenship - have been investigated.- In the second part, dietary styles – including families' food purchasing habits and motivations, and the role played by the children in this decisional process - have been examined.- In the third part, the way children use TV and the importance of this activity in the decisional processes leading to the purchase and consumption of alimentary products, have been deepened.- In the fourth part, the habits concerning health and physical activity have been sampled. The anthropometric measurements collected from parents and children have supplied information regarding their level of overweight and/or obesity.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONThe questionnaires which were considered significant for the analysis purposes are 22,552, the 21% of which filled in by persons with not-Italian nationality.With reference to citizenship, the 79% of the interviewed parents are Italian citizens, the 19% have foreign citizenships, whereas the 4% have more than one citizenship. Considering the children's nationality, the proportions are differently distributed: the number of Italian citizens increase (82%) while the number of foreign children decreases (14%). What emerges from the collected data is that the 80% of the respondents are regularly married and that in the 54% of the families there are 2 children. The majority of the respondents have obtained a high school leaving qualification (45%), the 31% have a university degree and the 18% haven't gone beyond the middle school certificate. A correlation between the parents' school qualifications and the children's obesity level have been observed. With reference to the parents' education, the children's BMI results inversely proportional to the parents' educational degree: so, the obesity level of the children of graduated parents almost reaches the 3%, whereas the children of high school graduated parents are obese in more than the 4% of the cases, and the children of parents without school qualifications are obese in the 13% of the cases.Analyzing the information regarding the weekly diets, and according to the respondents' statements, the following eating habits seem to prevail:- Pasta is eaten almost every day;- Rice is eaten only occasionally (from 1 to 3 times a week);- Meat is eaten on alternate days;- Eggs are eaten less regularly (almost the 10% of the families never eat eggs);- Fish is eaten from 1 to 3 times a week, although about the 10% of the families declare they never eat fish; - Cheese is eaten from 4 to 6 times a week, whereas in the 10% of cases it is not part of the diet; - Desserts are included in the children daily diet in the 55% of cases and the 7% only don't eat desserts during the day; - Vegetables are eaten during every daily meal in the 25% only of the cases, while it is never eaten in the 7% of cases; - Fruit seems to be more appreciated than vegetables: the 21% of the children sometimes eat fruit - that is from 3 to 6 days a week. In the 40% of the cases, fruit is eaten during every meal and the 3,8% only never eat it.With regard to the relation between media use and dietary habits, the greater part of the sample declare that their dietary habits are “little” (36%) or “not at all” (42%) influenced by TV.The 30% of the respondents declare that they never watch TV during meals; on the contrary, the 23% always turn TV on while eating. The influence of advertising on the choice of food is considered “mid-to-low” from the 21% of the respondents only.With regard to the physical activity routines, the 49.1% of the families declare that they take exercise from 1 to 2 times a week.

CONCLUSIONS What emerges from the questionnaire administration is a research guideline which underlines the connections between parents' and children's BMI, among BMI, socio-cultural background and zone of residence, and among BMI, eating habits and sports activity; it can give impulse to a campaign for a targeted sensitization and prevention in the city of Milan.Above all, the advisability and the need for a continuous monitoring, which can act as a permanent observatory on Milanese families consumption habits, stands out. The reasons for pursuing this study reside in the importance of monitoring a representative sample of the whole population, and to go deeper in the analysis of areas which, according to this first survey, have turn out to be of particular interest, in order to gather data and evidences for future policies of social and individual well-being promotion and to formulate nutrition education plans in the city of Milan.

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Russo, Vincenzo; Castelli, Luciana; Sciangula, Cinzia; Milani, Laura Emma

IULM University, Milan

Food consumer behavior, lifestyle and health conditionof families and their children attending primary school in Milan