Dietary Quality of Elders and Children Is Interdependent in Taiwanese Communities: A NAHSIT Mapping Study

Dietary quality may exhibit intergenerational associations in Taiwanese communities. Nutrition and Health Surveys in Taiwan (NAHSIT) for children and elders (1999–2002) were mapped for coincident locality and ethnicity with Geo-Gadget. Communities were characterized ecologically. Dietary quality was assessed by the Youth Healthy Eating Index-Taiwan (YHEI-TW) for children and Overall Dietary Index-Revised (ODI-R) for elders. Hierarchical regression analysis was used. Elderly ODI-R was linked with the overall child YHEI-TW (p < .001). When ODI-R increased 1 unit, the child YHEI-TW improved 0.232 and 0.134 YHEI-TW units with men and women, respectively. Dietary quality of community elders is related to that of children.