0000000000370079
AUTHOR
Outi Nuutinen
Children’s Fruit and Vegetable Preferences Are Associated with Their Mothers’ and Fathers’ Preferences
Children’s preference for fruit and vegetables must emerge during childhood. At children’s homes, mothers and fathers influence children’s developing food preferences with their own preferences and actions. The purpose of the study was to reveal the association parents have with their children’s fruit and vegetable preferences. The study was conducted in a sample of Finnish mothers and fathers of 3–5-year-old children. The participants were recruited, and questionnaires distributed through early childhood education and care centers in 2014 and 2015. The results showed considerable variance in the children’s preferences, and were more similar with their father’s, than their mother’s preferen…
Fruit and vegetable consumption among 3–5-year-old Finnish children and their parents: Is there an association?
Abstract This study investigated the association between the home food environment and the consumption frequency of raw and cooked vegetables, berries and fruit among 3–5-year-old children and their mothers and fathers. The target group consisted of 3–5-year-old children (N = 114) attending public early childhood education and care, and their parents (N = 100). Cross-sectional data were collected from the parents with questionnaires assessing the home food environment, children and parents’ vegetable, berry and fruit consumption, and food neophobia. Linear mixed-effects models and principal component analysis were used to examine the association of parental consumption and the home food env…
Sensory-based food education in early childhood education and care, willingness to choose and eat fruit and vegetables, and the moderating role of maternal education and food neophobia
AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the association between sensory-based food education implemented in early childhood education and care (ECEC) centres and children’s willingness to choose and eat vegetables, berries and fruit, and whether the mother’s education level and children’s food neophobia moderate the linkage.DesignThe cross-sectional study involved six ECEC centres that provide sensory-based food education and three reference centres. A snack buffet containing eleven different vegetables, berries and fruit was used to assess children’s willingness to choose and eat the food items. The children’s parents completed the Food Neophobia Scale questionnaire to assess their children’s food…