Children’s eating behavior patterns vary greatly, however, there are certain general patterns and inclinations that parents and caregivers frequently encounter. According to new research from Aston University, children fall into four main eating categories, and parents feed their children differently based on those categories. Dr. Abigail Pickard and her colleagues at the School of Psychology found four categories: “avid,” “happy,” “typical,” and “fussy.”
In the United Kingdom, about a fifth of children are overweight or obese when they start school, rising to about a third by the time they finish primary school at age 11. The researchers aimed to discover eating behavior patterns and how they relate to temperament, feeding practices, and food insecurity in order to predict which youngsters are more likely to become overweight.
Typical eaters accounted for 44% of the youngsters in the study, whereas fussy eaters accounted for 16%. The team was most interested in the fact that one in every five young children in the study was found to have “avid eating,” which included greater enjoyment of food, faster eating speed, and a lesser sensitivity to internal indications of “fullness.”
Whilst feeding practices are key intervention targets to change children’s eating behavior and child weight outcomes, there has been little evaluation of how feeding practices interact with children’s food approach behaviors to predict eating behavior.
Professor Jackie Blissett
Wanting to eat (or eating more) in response to the sight, smell, or taste of palatable food, and a higher level of emotional overeating, distinguish children with avid eating from those with ‘happy’ eating (17.7% of children in the study), who have similarly positive responses to food. These eating habits, when combined, can lead to overeating and consequent weight gain.
Dr. Pickard and colleagues from Aston University, Loughborough University, Kings College London, and University College London (UCL) have also demonstrated that there are significant differences in children’s temperament and caregivers’ feeding practices between the four eating behavior patterns. Children who eat a lot are more likely to be active and impulsive, and their caretakers are more inclined to give them food to manage their emotions or to restrict food for health reasons. Children who ate voraciously were also less food secure than children who ate normally.
Principal investigator of the project, Professor Jackie Blissett, said:
“Whilst feeding practices are key intervention targets to change children’s eating behavior and child weight outcomes, there has been little evaluation of how feeding practices interact with children’s food approach behaviors to predict eating behavior.”
She explained that, although being aware of the impact of feeding practices on children’s weight, existing public health guidance is general and does not account for diversity in children’s appetites. When trying to manage their child’s food intake, parents and caregivers may become frustrated. This research project, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council and co-developed by Professor Claire Farrow, Dr. Clare Llewellyn, Dr. Moritz Herle, Professor Emma Haycraft, and Dr. Helen Croker, will make it easier to identify the best feeding practices for each eating pattern and provide tailored, effective advice to parents by defining the four eating behavior profiles.
Dr Pickard said:
“Parents can use this research to better understand the eating habits of their children. The parent can then tailor their feeding techniques to the child based on the child’s eating profile. Children with an enthusiastic eating profile, for example, may benefit more from covert food restrictions, such as not bringing snacks into the house or not having foods on display, to limit the temptation to eat foods in the absence of hunger. If, on the other hand, a youngster exhibits finicky eating behavior, it would be more useful for the child to have a balanced and varied range of foods on display to encourage testing foods without being pressured to consume.”
The team intends to do an additional study on avid eating behavior and will bring caregivers and their children to Aston University’s specialist eating behavior lab to gain a better understanding of what ardent and typical eating behaviors look like in a real-life situation. All of the findings will be combined, and the researchers will collaborate with parents to create viable and beneficial feeding guidelines to limit children’s consumption of palatable snack items.
