Increasing child consumption of calcium through parents: A randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES Approximately 25% of Canadian children aged 4-8 years fail to meet the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) of calcium. Young children's food choices are primarily determined by their parents. No interventions have directly targeted parents as a medium through which to increase children's calcium consumption. This study compared the effectiveness of a calcium-specific intervention targeted towards parents, to generic dietary advice on the calcium consumption of children aged 4-10 years. DESIGN A parallel 2-arm randomised controlled trial was conducted. SETTING The study was conducted across Canada. Both conditions received information on the RDA of calcium and an index of intake requirements. Material sent to the intervention condition included behavioural strategies to increase dietary calcium consumption, information on the benefits of dietary calcium intake, and messages addressing perceived barriers to the consumption of calcium-rich foods. PARTICIPANTS A total of 239 parents (93% mothers) of children aged 4-10 years who consumed less than the RDA of calcium were randomly assigned in a 1:1 allocation ratio. RESULTS There was a significant increase in total calcium intake and calcium from dairy for children at weeks 8, 34 and 52 (ps ≤.001) in both conditions. Parental calcium intake and amount spent on dairy products did not significantly increase following the intervention. CONCLUSION Provision of daily calcium requirements with regular reminders could impact parents' delivery of calcium-rich foods to their children. This finding is important for public health messaging as it suggests that parents are a potent medium through which to promote calcium intake in children.