The Effect of Parents’ Nutrition Literacy on Children’s Oral-Health-Related Quality of Life

Abstract

Parents can help children adopt good eating habits early in childhood by encouraging them to eat healthy. While parents’ levels of nutritional literacy is known to play a role in children’s healthy nutrition, healthy food is also essential in improving oral-health-related quality of life (OHRQoL). Since the effect of parents’ nutritional literacy on children’s OHRQoL is not yet known, this study aimed to examine the impact of parental nutritional literacy on children’s OHRQoL. This study was conducted with 459 parents of children aged 3–6 living in the Central Anatolia Region of Türkiye. Data collection tools included a sociodemographic form, the Early Childhood Oral Health Impact Scale (ECOHIS) and the Evaluation Instrument of Nutrition Literacy on Adults (EINLA). Data were analyzed in SPSS, using Student’s t-test, Chi-square test, and binary logistic regression models. Parents with higher nutritional literacy tend to have higher levels of education. An increase in total nutritional literacy score, especially in the general nutrition knowledge (GNK) and food label and numerical literacy (FLNL) subscales, was associated with higher child OHRQoL. Increasing parents’ nutritional literacy levels can contribute to OHRQoL by enabling them to be good role models for their children. Therefore, increasing parents’ nutritional literacy can improve OHRQoL by improving children’s nutrition and can be considered a protective factor for oral health.