Development of Children's Eating Habits

Parental feeding style: authoritation

'clean your plate' attitude. Pressurizes to eat foods. Results in decreased eating, increased fussiness, decreased speed, decreased hunger cues, increase in underweight and overweight

Who regulates the energy intakes of breastfed vs bottle fed infants?

- breast fed infants regulate their own energy intakes more than bottle-fed infants. Their energy intakes vary more from day to day than bottle fed infants. - energy intake usually becomes constant after introduction of solids.

What does energy intake in children depend on?

-eating frequency: this can have social implications eg the promotion of grazing to reduce hunger which will reduce the liklihood of eating a proper meal -amount consumed at the time: innate predisposition, portion size, dietary variety, sensory specific satiety, modelling, energy density of foods, feeding practices and control.

How can parents positively shape their children's healthy eating patterns?

-offer repeated exposure to a variety of healthy foods -start early to make tasting new foods a pleasant family routine -Act as good role models -watch the context in which foods are presented or withheld -provide appropriate serving sizes -respect children's ability to regulate their energy intake -not severely restricting access to highly palatable foods

What is the child's job

1) decide how much to eat 2) whether or not to eat. When a parent offers food the child can choose to accept or reject it.

How to improve food choice in children

Consider availability (the more food, the higher the intake), accessibility (the more accessible the food, the higher the intake). Consider these in the different contexts of the child... visibility- foods are visible on the kitchen counter (sweet dish vs fruit bowl) What foods can be prepared-biscuits vs apples Where are the treats kept - back of the cupboard vs on the kitchen counter

Avalaibility and accessibility

Consider the school environment: water, meal/snack times, tables/places to eat, vending machines/tuck shops, staff room (role modelling), foods as a class activity, food as a fundraiser. Goals are to make food choices more conducive to healthy eating.

Parental feeding style: permissive

Eat what you want when you want

Parental control to widen preference: foods offered as rewards, fast food toys, restricting foods, and pressure to eat

Foods that are offered as a reward become favoured and revered. Usually the foods that are offered are sweet foods or desserts, and they may be offered as a ploy or incentive to finish other foods that the child is unsure about, like vegetables. This will further decrease acceptance of the vegetables, possibly demonizing it or making them seem like a trial or a chore, while further putting the dessert on a higher level of value. It is suggested that non-foods could be offered instead, but not offered as a reward for eating another food. It is not healthy to expose children to the toys that fast food chains use as incentives to buy the food. Restricting access to a food might work short term but can be counterproductive long term. Could demonize the food, encourage bingeing, creating feelings of shame for eating the 'bad'/'prohibited' food Pressure to eat can decrease consumption. Picky eating cause and effect

Parental feeding style: authoritative

Good balance. Increased self-regulation of appetite. Children are leaner and have increased fruit and vegetable intake.

Family meals

In the UK 76% of families have a dining table and only 20% use it for eating - family meals will be had on the sofa or at a restaurant. US research indicates that family meals are more common with younger children, with more than 50% of 9 year olds having 7 or more meals with family a week in contrast to 1/3 to 1/4 of 14 year olds. Link of childhood obesity and family meals not confirmed Family meals and positive atmosphere associated with less disordered eating among female adolescents Adolescents consuming family meals had less substance abuse, depression etc. More family meals associated with better adolescent diet/nutrient intake Increased fruit and vegetable intake Various other markers, not consistent, including increased dairy consumption/calcium intake, and less soft drinks, fried foods and likely to slip breakfast

Food intake and TV viewing

Increased TV during eating is thought to increase distractions and increase food intake. Advertisements expose children to junk food. Can result in mindless eating, and affect satiety signals.

Modelling to widen preference

Modelling consumption is a kind of social suggestion. Modelling will influence liking, and can be done by parents, teachers, peers in creche, kindergarten or school etc. Parents are the most significant role models in young children and their fruit and dairy intake is related to that of their children. Modelling doesn't just have to be in the form of physical consumption - teachers can use fruit to learn colours, games can involve plastic fruit and vegetable toys to normalise these foods. An example of negative modelling - teacher drinking coke in the school playground - children will accept this as a normal behaviour and seek to adopt this behaviour. Parents not eating vegetables etc.

How do portion sizes influence children's intake?

Observational studies show that larger serving sizes correlated higher energy intake. Experimental studies show that -mac and cheese entree both reference and double sizes. There was a 56% consumption of the reference size, 29% more when served doubled (63% of children increased); 13% increase total energy from meal. Same effect on all ages 2-9 years -not associated with body size; maternal inhibition -effect appears to be mediated by size

What kind of environment to provide to widen preferences

Offer food in a positive, non-coercive context. Role model desired eating preferences - children are more likely to eat breakfast, drink fizzy drinks, and juice if their parents do. 'Bad' food can't be completely eradicated from the child's environment, especially as they grow older. It is best to model to the child that these foods even though they are available and taste good are not the best choices for everyday.

Paternal restraint and energy intake

Parental dietary restraint and dietary inhibition is associated with a child's intake and adiposity. Children's knowledge about 'dieting' relate to maternal practice. Eating behaviours (hunger, disinhibition and restraint) may have genetic links. Is the effect on eating style stronger when the mother is physically present?

What are the main factors that shape a child's food acceptance patterns?

Preference and predispositions. Preferences are shape by exposure/familiarity, social context of eating, physiological response and genetic predisposition. All are innately predisposed to prefer sweet, salty and energy dense foods and have aversions to bitter and sour flavours. The caregivers are role models and children's eating patterns commonly mirror them.

Parental preference and energy intake

Preference for high fat/energy dense foods was related to parents preferences and related to paternal adiposity. It is mostly due to exposure but may have a genetic component. Frequent consumption of high fat foods can override energy regulations.

Why should a parent not be discouraged if they feed their child a food that is initially rejected?

Repeated exposure leads to liking and acceptance. A food needs to be tasted several times before it is accepted. Repeated exposure should be occurring in all the child's environments, including its home, pre-school etc.

What happens with self-serve

Research findings are mixed. Children who were responsive to serve size at less when they self-served, children who were non-responsive at more. More responsive children had larger self-serve portions.

What are some overrides to regulation of energy intake?

can be achieved with external cues eg reward for cleaning a plate Inversely related with parental control Maternal restriction of a childs diet is related (especially girls) to inability to regulate energy intake. Restriction is linked to obesity but could be reverse causality.

What is the parent's job

to when and where to 1) buy and choose healthy food, 2) prepare a wide variety of healthy foods 3) offer regular meals 4) present food in a positive and supportive fashion. A parent can offer food.