Abstract
Food-related preferences and practices are formed in early childhood. Our prior study suggested that children’s food preferences were related to their attitude towards food, especially “concern about food” and “respect for food.” In this study, we investigated the association of the high and low level of “attitude towards food” to food preferences of 6–16-year-old students. In 2017, a questionnaire was given to 1,658 students and guardians who attended public school and junior high school in the Hyogo prefecture of Japan. A total of 497 (29.9%) completed questionnaires were returned. The Kruskal–Wallis, Mann–Whitney U, and Jonckheere–Terpstra tests were employed to assess any associations between the independent variables and three levels of “concern about food” and “respect for food” with significance being at p < 0.05. The number of foods disliked by the students significantly decreased with increasing levels of “attitude towards food”. The present study suggests that the students’ “attitude towards food” was associated with their food preferences.
Highlights
The present study suggests that the students‟ “attitude towards food” was associated with their food preferences
Picky eating among children is a common concern, yet little is known about how these behaviors develop in early childhood
We found that Japanese elementary and junior high school students‟ food preferences were associated with their “Attitude towards food.”
Summary
Taste preferences are created in early childhood when children are predisposed to prefer high-energy, sugary, and salty foods, and tend to reject new foods (Schwartz et al, 2011; Cosmi, Scaglioni & Agostoni, 2017). As noted above, these appear to be intimately related to children‟s behavior and development. It is important to improve children‟s food neophobia and/or picky or fussy eating habits. Parental food habits and feeding strategies are the most important determinants of a child‟s eating behavior and food choices (Scaglioni et al, 2018). Cosmi suggested that while genetically determined individual differences exist, repeated offerings of food can modify innate preferences http://jfr.ccsenet.org
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