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Feeding Practices Associated with Toddler Dietary Intake
Author(s) -
Edelson Lisa,
Mokdad Cassandra,
Martin Nathalie
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.404.4
Subject(s) - toddler , meal , fish <actinopterygii> , dried fish , portion size , food science , feeding behavior , environmental health , healthy eating , food group , cooking methods , medicine , biology , psychology , zoology , physical activity , developmental psychology , fishery , physical medicine and rehabilitation
Objective To explore the relationship between parents' observed feeding practices during a typical day of meals and the toddler's usual intake of food groups. Methods Sixty families of 12‐36 mo.‐old children recorded all of children's meals for one full day, plus an additional meal at which they introduced a new fruit or vegetable. These videos were coded for parent and child behavior during mealtimes. Three months later, each family completed three 24‐hr dietary recall interviews, from which intakes of food groups were extracted. Results Encouragements: Parents' encouragements of vegetable intake during main meals and the novel vegetable were both positively correlated with typical vegetable intake. There was a trend for encouragements of fruit during main meals to be correlated with children's fruit intake, but no association with encouragements of a new fruit. Significant subtypes of encouragements for fruits at main meals were reasoning, modeling, and pressure; for vegetables, reasoning, modeling, and neutral encouragements. Other behaviors: Parents who served vegetables at least once during main meals had children with significantly higher typical intakes of fruit, and a trend for eating more whole grains and vegetables. Children of parents who used restriction ate significantly more refined grain and had a trend for eating less fish. Correlations between additional parent behaviors and intake will also be presented. Environment: Compared to those who did not watch TV during meals, children who had a TV/screen on during at least one meal ate less fruit, fish, and alternative proteins, with a trend for eating less whole grain and more dairy. Conclusions Mealtime practices such as how new foods are introduced and TV viewing during meals are associated with children's intake of many food groups.