Factors Influencing Children's Dietary Practices: A Review

Family Economics and Nutrition Review, Winter, 1999 by Alyson Escobar

Researchers at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (CNPP) used a multistage approach to develop the Food Guide Pyramid for Young Children. CNPP provided a research-based rationale for focusing on a food guide that could be used by parents and caregivers of preschool-age children (43). Using data from the Continuing Survey of Food Intakes by Individuals 1989-91, the Center developed composites for 1,300 and 1,600-calorie Pyramid-based diet patterns, all of which were based on children's food intake (35).

To gather input from the target audience, USDA researchers conducted a two-phase focus group study to obtain participants' evaluations of the prototype graphic and promotional materials (49). CNPP staff conducted additional research to determine whether any other issues needed to be considered in developing and promoting a food guide for the target audience.

The early years are a key time for experimenting with and establishing dietary habits, some of which may have a major influence on the risk for developing certain chronic diseases later in life. Early experiences with food and eating are central to the acquisition of food preferences and patterns of food consumption (6). Children's food choices are further influenced by a wide variety of environmental and lifestyle factors (16, 41) that are important in the development, maturation, and modification of dietary behavior during childhood (24) and that are important determinants of dietary behavior among underserved, ethnically diverse groups of children (13). This paper briefly highlights several influences on young children's dietary behavior that may have implications for feeding as well as communicating food and nutrition messages to young children.

Developmental Capabilities and Children's Dietary Practices

Children's dietary practices are influenced by their developmental stage, with the years between 2 and 6 marked by rapid social, intellectual, and emotional growth. Physical growth slows overall, with a decrease in growth rate reflected in a decrease in appetite and less interest in food (45).

Adding to the challenge of feeding young children is the emotional growth that takes place while they are toddlers. Toddlerhood marks the beginning of children's attempts to establish independence. As a result, children engage in power struggles with parents and caregivers. These conflicts often erupt during feeding situations, with toddlers refusing to eat until they get what they want and with adults torn between their need to control the situation and their desire to ensure that their child is well nourished.

As children progress into the preschool years, their emotional development continues to affect the feeding situation. Preschoolers are generally less fearful than toddlers and more eager to stretch their limits; to explore their world. They behave more consistently and are likely to be active in seeking attention and approval from adults. Thus their eating patterns become more established, and their food preferences are highly influenced not only by adults but also by peers (45). Birch found that children as young as 3 and 4 years could be persuaded to change their selection and consumption of different vegetables as a result of eating meals with their peer group whose preferences differed initially from their own (3). Furthermore, peer influence was strongest for the younger children in the group.

Preschool children also undergo major changes in development of their motor skills and other abilities. The progression from large motor skills to fine motor skills that occurs gives parents and caregivers a prime opportunity to engage children in food-preparation activities (26,27). Food preparation can be used to teach colors, shapes, sizes and size comparisons, cultural differences, and mathematical concepts (45).

Food Preferences and Acceptance and Children's Food-Related Behaviors

One estimate has indicated that 25 to 50 percent of the variation in food consumption among individuals can be attributed to preference alone (38). One study of young Mohawk children, for example, has found that food preferences explained over 70 percent of the variation in dietary behavior (25). Another study has provided evidence of a strong correlation between food preferences and food choices in children as young as 3 years. This research also suggests that food preferences may have an even greater effect on children's food choices than on adults' choices (2).

Young children are capable of learning to like and accept a wide variety of foods, and this learning occurs rapidly during the first few years of life. Understanding the contribution of early learning and experiences to the development of food-acceptance patterns (e.g., which foods and how much of each an individual chooses to eat) can help foster development of healthful patterns and reduce parents' and caregivers' anxieties about feeding children (6).

Innate and Learned Factors

Development of food-acceptance patterns begins during infancy with certain innate taste preferences: newborn infants respond positively to sweet tastes and negatively to sour and bitter tastes. While the reflexive nature of infants' responses to these tastes might suggest that food-acceptance patterns are "built-in" and difficult to change, research does not support this conclusion (8). Responses to basic tastes change with a child's repeated experiences with foods.