2025/05/14 by A. Kemp, Pauline Emmett, Caroline M. Taylor · 1 voice
Medicine · #Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet #Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling #Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/jhn.70063
openalex publication_date 2025/05/14 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
BACKGROUND: Picky eating behaviour is characterised by an unwillingness to eat familiar foods, try new foods, and/or strong food preferences. Prevalence peaks at about 3 years of age and usually declines during school years but behavioural characteristics may persist. Parental pressure may influence this. Our aim was to assess food choices in a school setting, away from the family environment, of 13-year-old children who were preschool picky eaters compared with those who were never picky eaters. METHODS: Children were recruited at birth in south-west England and followed to age 13 years. Children (n = 7554) were classified as never (26%), low (59%) or high picky eaters (15%) based on parental responses to questionnaires completed when they were pre-schoolers. In a questionnaire completed at age 13 years (n = 5348) the children were asked about frequency of consumption of lunchtime food items at school. Adjusted binary logistic regression modelling was used to determine the associations with picky eating classification. RESULTS: There were no differences between picky and non-picky eaters in the frequency of packed lunch compared with school dinner uptake. Both high and low picky eaters were less likely to have meat, fish or cheese/egg sandwiches, or fruit or salad in packed lunches than non-picky eaters. High picky eaters ate fewer ham/meat sandwiches (OR 0.49 [95% CI 0.39, 0.61]) and fruits (0.62 [0.49, 0.80]) than non-picky eaters. Picky eaters were more likely to choose meat products in school dinners (e.g. meat burgers/sausages 1.29 [1.06, 1.57]) and have similar intakes of roast meats and fruit, but were less likely to have cooked vegetables or salad (0.68 [0.52, 0.90] and 0.62 [0.46, 0.83] respectively) than non-picky eaters. CONCLUSION: Behaviours characteristic of picky eating, such as avoiding meat, fish and fruit, were less evident in school dinner than packed lunch choices. However, avoidance of vegetables/salad persisted. It is likely that family norms have a stronger influence over packed lunch content than over school dinner choices where the child has more autonomy and may be influenced by their peers.