Caregivers’ perceptions about picky eating: associations with texture acceptance and food intake (379.3)

Abstract

Picky‐eating children accept only a limited number of foods, are unwilling to try new foods, have strong food preferences (likes/dislikes), and more often require special preparation of foods. Appropriate texture introduction is important and might impact food acceptance and picky eating, but not much is known about texture acceptance in picky eating infants and toddlers. In this study, data from the 2008 Feeding Infants and Toddlers Study (FITS) was used to examine associations between picky eating and food group consumption, intake of various types of vegetables, and texture acceptance in infants and toddlers between 4 and 48 months. The percentage of children identified as very picky eaters by their caregivers increased from 3.4% in 6‐12 month olds to 15.6% in 36‐48 months old children. Between 36 and 48 months old, 57% of parents indicated that their child is a very or somewhat picky eater. At the same time, caregivers perceived 17.8% of infants between 0 and 6 months to be resistant of food textures, which might be normal in a phase of introducing first solids. Surprisingly, parents report increasing prevalence’s of children’s resistance to food textures, with a prevalence of 36% for children between 2 and 4 years old. Shifts in the intake of types of vegetables, e.g. how picky eaters shift from baby food vegetables to non‐baby foods, and associations with texture acceptance will be presented.Grant Funding Source: Funded by Nestlé Nutrition