Mothers' Perceptions and Attitudes towards Children's Vegetable Consumption-A Qualitative, Cross-cultural Study of Chilean, Chinese and American Mothers Living in Northern California

Raw or Cooked? Exploring Vegetable Acceptance Among Chilean Children from Different Socioeconomic Backgrounds

This study explores how socioeconomic status (SES) influences the acceptability of familiar vegetables in Chilean children aged 9-10, examining its relationship with sex, BMI, and preparation methods. A sensory evaluation was conducted in two stages to assess responses across sensory dimensions: appearance, aroma, taste, texture, and overall-opinion. In the first stage, 363 children evaluated eight vegetables: tomatoes, lettuce, corn, cucumber, carrots, beets, broccoli, and cauliflower. Results show significant differences across samples for all sensory dimensions (p < 0.0001), with tomatoes, lettuce, corn and cucumber receiving the highest ratings. The second stage involved 191 children, who evaluated the three least preferred vegetables (carrots, beets, and cauliflower) in raw and cooked forms. Raw vegetables received higher ratings than cooked across all sensory dimensions, except for beets in appearance, where raw scored lower. Significant differences were found for carrots and cauliflower (p < 0.0001), while the difference for beets was not statistically significant. SES had limited influence on vegetable liking, while BMI showed some interactions with texture and aroma ratings. These findings suggest lower vegetable consumption in vulnerable groups may not stem from reduced liking of familiar vegetables. Increasing availability could help, along with exploring preparation methods for less-liked vegetables, particularly raw options, which appear promising.

Food Fussiness, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Consumption, and Their Correlations With Anthropometric Indices in Children

INTRODUCTION

Literature has consistently reported that fussy eaters usually have restricted food choices, particularly on fruits and vegetables. Insufficient intake of fruits and vegetables among fussy-eating children can result in a lack of essential nutrients needed to support growth and development.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to elucidate the relationships between food fussiness, fresh fruit and vegetable consumption, and anthropometric indices of children residing in Klang Valley, Malaysia.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was conducted to recruit 179 pairs of consenting caregiver-child. Caregivers were required to report the surveyed child's sex, date of birth, and ethnicity. The six-item food fussiness subscale from the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ) was used to assess food fussiness in children. In addition, caregivers were asked to report whether their child had consumed fresh fruits and vegetables over the past month and to list all those they consistently refused to consume. For anthropometric measurements, children's body weight was measured with a digital bathroom scale, and height was measured using a portable stadiometer. Height-for-age z-scores (HAZ) and BMI-for-age z-scores (BAZ) were determined using the WHO Anthro software version 3.2.2 (for children below five) or the WHO AnthroPlus software version 1.0.4 (for children above five). The relationships between the studied variables were analyzed using IBM SPSS statistics version 27.0.

RESULTS

This study revealed that one in two children (54.2%) were fussy eaters, 9.5% did not consume fresh fruits, and 32.4% did not consume fresh vegetables over the past month. The findings from path analyses indicated that food fussiness was negatively correlated with fresh fruit and vegetable consumption. However, there were no significant direct and indirect relationships between food fussiness and anthropometric indices as indicated by HAZ and BAZ of children.

CONCLUSION

The findings of this study demonstrated that food fussiness was negatively correlated with fresh fruit and vegetable consumption. Interventions can be carried out by encouraging children to consume fruits and vegetables they typically reject, such as bean vegetables, pear, papaya, and tuberous vegetables, to prevent nutrient deficiency.

Knowledge, attitude and purchasing behavior of Saudi mothers towards food additives and dietary pattern of preschool children

Background

There are over 506 children's products containing one or more types of additives. Maternal awareness of these additives is essential for the health of preschool-aged children, as this period is vital for children's growth and development. This study aims to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and purchasing behaviors related to food additives among mothers living in the western region of Saudi Arabia, as well as the dietary patterns of preschool children.

Method

A cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey with a convenience sample of 521 mothers of preschool-aged children (3-5 years old). The survey gathered data on the child's age, number of children, the youngest child's weight and height, food intolerance, tooth decay, as well as the dietary patterns of preschool children. It also assessed the mother's knowledge, attitude, and purchasing behaviors related to food additives.

Results

The study found that 46.6% of mothers demonstrated good knowledge of food additives, while 56.0% demonstrated fair attitudes and 78.5% good purchasing behavior regarding additives. Additionally, the majority of mothers reported favorable dietary patterns for their preschool-aged children. "Biscuits and crackers" had the highest consumption frequency (4.98 ± 1.50), with 36.7% of children consuming them once daily, while "Soft beverages" had the lowest consumption frequency (2.73 ± 2.04), with 46.6% of children never consuming them. Statistically significant differences were identified between mothers' knowledge and their age, education level, occupation status, and economic status (p < 0.05). ANOVA results also indicated a statistically significant difference between mothers' attitudes and occupation status (p < 0.05). Furthermore, there were significant positive correlations between mothers' knowledge of food additives and their attitudes (r = 0.293) and purchasing behaviors (r = 0.284) related to additives.

Conclusion

The findings suggest that mothers possess a relatively good level of knowledge of food additives and hold fair attitudes toward them, tending to result in healthier purchasing behaviors and dietary practices for their preschool-aged children. To increase awareness, nutrition intervention programs are required across various socio-economic groups of mothers in the western region of Saudi Arabia. These programs can significantly contribute to promoting healthier dietary practices for preschool-aged children and improving overall family health and well-being.

Contribution of home garden vegetables on reducing stunting among 6- to 23-month-old children in South Tigray, northern Ethiopia

The study was conducted to analyze the contribution of home garden vegetables in reducing stunting among 6- to 23-month-old children from South Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. The quasi-experimental study design was used. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the districts and study communities. A total of 94 purposively selected vegetable producer (intervention) households and 260 randomly selected non-producer (control) households were included in the study (1:3 ratio). The recumbent length of children was measured using horizontal wooden board to the nearest 0.1 cm. The length-for-age Z-scores were computed using WHO-Anthro 2006 software. Propensity score-matching and difference-in-difference (DID) estimates were used to analyze data using STATA software version 12. Prevalence of child stunting was 19.8 (12.7-29.4) and 21.1 (16.4-26.7)% (baseline) and 43.5 (33.5-54.1) and 46.5 (45.7-47.2)% (end line) among intervention and control groups, respectively. Child stunting was higher for boys and older children from both intervention and control households. DID estimation revealed that there was no significant difference in child stunting between intervention and control households (DID = 1.7, p = .604). However, there was an intervention effect of -0.5, 2.5, and 1.7% in the prevalence of child stunting among females, males, and both sexes, respectively. Vegetable production as an intervention strategy reduced the prevalence of stunting in children aged 6-23 months. However, vegetable production needs to be well integrated with other nutrition-sensitive interventions to realize the objective of reducing child stunting.

Analysis of association between eating behaviours and childhood obesity among pre-school children: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

Childhood obesity is a worldwide critical health concern. We aimed to clarify whether eating behaviours increased the risk of childhood obesity.

METHODS

We recruited 2,049 pre-school children aged 3-6 years between 1 December 2021 and 31 January 2022 in Taizhou, China. Children's weight status was classified according to the International Obesity Task Force criteria, and their eating behaviours were evaluated using the Children's Eating Behaviour Questionnaire. Correlation analyses, linear regressions, and one-way ANCOVA. were performed to analyse the association between children's eating behaviours and weight status.

RESULTS

In 'Food Avoidant' subscales, the scores of satiety responsiveness (P < 0.001) and slowness in eating (P = 0.001) were negatively associated with body mass index z score among pre-school children of both sexes. In 'Food Approach' subscales, the score of enjoyment of food was positively associated with body mass index z score in both boys (P = 0.007) and girls (P = 0.035), but the association of scores of food responsiveness with body mass index z score was found only in girls (P = 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Our results supported that pre-school children with low scores in 'Food Avoidant' subscales and high scores in 'Food Approach' scales were more likely to become obese.