Is there a connection between healthy eating and child self-esteem?

Scientists from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden a few years ago launched a project that studies the relationship between child nutrition and his emotional state.

Recently, they analyzed data on 7675 children aged 2 to 9 years from 8 European countries (Italy, Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Cyprus, Hungary, Spain and Sweden).

How was the study done?

After receiving data from parents (at the beginning of the study and two years later) about 43 foods consumed by children, including meat, fish, vegetables and cereals, each child was given a score from 0 to 50. The highest score was received by the one who followed their diet and adhered to a healthy diet.

In this study, in particular, healthy eating was meant:

  • low content in processed sugar and fat products;
  • eating 400-500 grams of fruits and vegetables per day;
  • eating fish 3 times a week.

The researchers assessed the emotional sphere through a survey of parents about the behavior of children. To take into account the possible effects of physical activity, the researchers took into account the body mass index of children.

results

After the analysis, a two-way relationship between healthy nutrition and the emotional sphere was revealed: those children whose healthy nutrition indicator was above the average level had 20% more often higher self-esteem, 40% less often had problems in the emotional sphere and 30% better communicated with their peers.

Children with higher than average self-esteem at the time of the study began, by the end of it, 29% more often preferred healthy food. At the same time, body mass index did not affect these results.

The research results are published in the journal BMC Public Health.

ABOUT proper nutrition for schoolchildren read our article.

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