Dataset Information

Snack Portion Sizes for Preschool Children Are Predicted by Caregiver Portion Size, Caregiver Feeding Practices and Children's Eating Traits.

ABSTRACT: Caregivers are mostly responsible for the foods young children consume; however, it is unknown how caregivers determine what portion sizes to serve. This study examined factors which predict smaller or larger than recommended snack portion sizes in an online survey. Caregivers of children aged 2 to 4 years were presented with 10 snack images, each photographed in six portion sizes. Caregivers (n = 659) selected the portion they would usually serve themselves and their child for an afternoon snack. Information on child eating traits, parental feeding practices and demographics were provided by caregivers. Most caregivers selected portions in line with recommended amounts for preschool children, demonstrating their ability to match portion sizes to their child's energy requirements. However, 16% of caregivers selected smaller than recommended low energy-dense (LED, e.g., fruits and vegetables) snacks for their child which was associated with smaller caregiver's own portion size, reduced child food liking and increased satiety responsiveness. In contrast, 28% of caregivers selected larger than recommended amounts of high energy-dense (HED, e.g., cookies, crisps) snacks for their child which were associated with larger caregiver's own portion size, greater frequency of consumption, higher child body mass index (BMI), greater pressure to eat and lower child food liking. These findings suggest that most caregivers in this study select portions adjusted to suit their child's age and stage of development. Future interventions could provide support to caregivers regarding the energy and nutrient density of foods given the relatively small portion sizes of LED and large portions of HED snacks offered to some children.

SUBMITTER: Reale S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6950396 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Snack Portion Sizes for Preschool Children Are Predicted by Caregiver Portion Size, Caregiver Feeding Practices and Children's Eating Traits.

Reale Sophie S Simpson Rebecca M RM Marr Colette C Carstairs Sharon A SA Cecil Joanne E JE Hetherington Marion M MM Caton Samantha J SJ

Nutrients 20191210 12

Caregivers are mostly responsible for the foods young children consume; however, it is unknown how caregivers determine what portion sizes to serve. This study examined factors which predict smaller or larger than recommended snack portion sizes in an online survey. Caregivers of children aged 2 to 4 years were presented with 10 snack images, each photographed in six portion sizes. Caregivers (n = 659) selected the portion they would usually serve themselves and their child for an afternoon snac ...[more]

PMID: 31835571

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Large portion sizes encourage overconsumption. Prior studies suggest that this may be due to errors in anticipating the effects of portion size, although the studies were limited to adults and energy-dense foods. OBJECTIVE:Our aim was to investigate potential anticipation errors related to the effects of portion size on hunger, eating enjoyment, and healthiness ratings among 8-to-11-year-old children, for snacks differing in energy density and healthiness perception, and as a function of initial hunger. METHODS:In a within-subject design, 83 children aged 8 to 11?years old were first asked to anticipate how much they would enjoy, how hungry they would feel after eating, and how healthy it would be to eat a recommended serving size, a 50% larger portion, and a 125% larger portion of brownie or applesauce. Over six subsequent sessions, the children were asked to eat all of each of these portions and then rate their post-intake enjoyment, residual hunger, and healthiness perceptions. We also measured hunger at the beginning of each session. RESULTS:For both snacks, larger portions reduced anticipated and experienced residual hunger similarly. In contrast, larger portions increased anticipated but not experienced eating enjoyment for both snacks; although larger portions increased anticipated and experienced enjoyment ratings among extremely hungry children. All children under-anticipated how much they would enjoy the smaller portion sizes. Healthiness ratings were unaffected by portion size for both snacks but differed across foods (applesauce vs. brownie). CONCLUSIONS:Children anticipate the effects of portion size on hunger change accurately, overestimate the effects of portion size on eating enjoyment, and rate food healthiness on food type and not portion size. Helping children better anticipate the enjoyment from smaller (recommended) portion sizes and understand that food quantity, not just quality, matters for healthy eating may be a solution to improve portion control.

Project description:ObjectivesPreschool is an important setting for regulating sedentary time (ST). The preschool day in Finland follows daily structures by having morning and afternoon slots for group-based activities that can encourage children for movement (eg, free play and outdoor time) or be still (eg, teacher-led sessions and sitting-based circles). This study aims to explore if the weekly routines in preschool and if more frequent visits in places encouraging physical activity (PA) are associated with children's ST during preschool hours.DesignCross-sectional DAGIS (Increased Health and Wellbeing in Preschools) study in the years 2015 and 2016.SettingIn Finland.Participants864 children (48% girls, 4.7 years) from 159 preschool groups in 66 preschools OUTCOME MEASURES: A total of 778 children wore required lengths of time (at least 240?min per preschool day, at least 2?days) the accelerometer during preschool hours. Each preschool group reported their weekly schedule during the week, and one early educator completed a questionnaire covering practices. The following five measures related to weekly structures were formed; times of outdoors (times per day), teacher-led sessions (times per day), free play (low, middle or high), organised PA lessons (no lessons at all/others) and mixed activities (no lessons at all/others), and the following five measures about the frequencies of visits in places encouraging PA; nature trips (times per week), play parks (times per week), neighbourhood sport facilities (no visits at all/others), visits to gym or other indoor facility (no visits at all/others) and field trips to neighbourhoods (times per week). Multilevel linear regression analyses were conducted to measure the associations.ResultsOf all the tested associations, only more frequently conducted nature trips were associated with lower children's ST during preschool hours (?=-1.026; 95%?CI -1.804 to -0.248).ConclusionFrequent nature trips in preschools may be important due to its association with lower preschool children's ST.

Dataset Information

Snack Portion Sizes for Preschool Children Are Predicted by Caregiver Portion Size, Caregiver Feeding Practices and Children's Eating Traits.

Publications

Snack Portion Sizes for Preschool Children Are Predicted by Caregiver Portion Size, Caregiver Feeding Practices and Children's Eating Traits.

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