Dataset Information

Growth and body composition in children who are picky eaters: a longitudinal view.

ABSTRACT:

Background/objectives

Picky eating may be associated with higher risk of being underweight and poor growth over time or conversely, being overweight. Our aim was to investigate if children identified as picky eaters showed differences in height, weight and body composition from their non-picky peers.

Subjects/methods

Picky eaters were identified in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children cohort at 3 years of age. Height and weight were measured on seven occasions (age 7-17 years). Body composition was measured on five occasions by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (age 9-17 years). Participants were classified as thin/normal/overweight or obese at each age point using body mass index (BMI) classifications. Data were analysed with adjusted multiple regression analysis and mixed-design repeated measures ANOVA.

Results

There was a main effect of being a picky child on height and weight (and on BMI and lean mass index (LMI) in boys) (lower in the picky children, all p ≤ 0.044), but not on percentage body fat or fat mass index (and not on BMI and LMI in girls) (all p > 0.2). The mean heights, weights and BMIs of picky eaters were consistently above the 50th centiles of reference growth charts. More than two-thirds of picky eaters were not thin at any age point. However, being a picky eater was predictive of being thin at a few age points.

Conclusions

The growth trajectories of children who were picky eaters were reassuring. The prevalence of thinness amongst some picky eaters is notable, suggesting that some children may need specific early identification, intervention and growth surveillance.

SUBMITTER: Taylor CM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6215483 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Children who are picky eaters typically demonstrate persistent food refusal and poor diet quality and may be resistant to intervention. OBJECTIVE:This study tested whether pickiness moderated the effect of a nutrition intervention on diet quality in youth with type 1 diabetes, hypothesizing that the intervention effect would be smaller among picky relative to nonpicky eaters. DESIGN:The study was an 18-month randomized clinical trial. PARTICIPANTS:Youth age 8.0 to 16.9 years (n=136) with type 1 diabetes duration ?1 year, receiving care at an outpatient diabetes center in Boston, MA, and a parent, participated from 2010 to 2013. INTERVENTION:The intervention integrated motivational interviewing, active learning, and applied problem solving to increase whole plant food intake. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:Whole plant food density (WPFD, cup/oz equivalents per 1,000 kcal target food groups), Healthy Eating Index-2005 (HEI2005, measures conformance to US dietary guidelines), and dietary variety were calculated from 3-day food records completed at six different times. Parents completed the pickiness subscale of the Child Feeding Questionnaire. STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED:Mean WPFD and HEI2005 were estimated using the population ratio method; standard errors were computed using jackknife variance-covariance estimation. Overall P value comparing groups across visits was derived using the ?2 test. RESULTS:Baseline diet quality was lower in picky than in nonpicky eaters. No intervention effect on pickiness or dietary variety was seen. In stratified analyses, the intervention effect on diet quality was significant for picky eaters only (WPFD P=0.0003; HEI2005 P=0.04). Among picky eaters, diet quality in the treatment group improved, whereas diet quality in the control group remained low. Diet quality of nonpicky eaters in the intervention group changed to a lesser degree. CONCLUSIONS:The intervention resulted in increased diet quality in picky eaters, whereas no intervention effect was seen in nonpicky eaters. Findings suggest that diet quality of picky eaters can be improved without changing their underlying pickiness.