Barns matmot 2.0 : Diet, development, and food neophobia in early years. How to promote healthy diets in a kindergarten setting

Early diet has a profound impact on a child’s development, growth, and future health. A varied diet with a high intake of vegetables is positive in several domains of health. In Norway, as in many other countries, the intake of vegetables is too low among both children and adults. An important barrier to vegetable intake in children is food neophobia. Food neophobia, meaning unwillingness to try unfamiliar foods, is a trait that is most explicit in children between two and six years of age. As this age period is important for the development of food preferences and lifelong dietary habits, understanding which factors are related to food neophobia in early age is important to know how to best improve long-term diet and lay the foundations for lifelong health. Most children eat several meals per day in kindergarten. The kindergarten setting is thus an arena with great opportunity to influence the food intake and food preferences of young children. Web-based intervention programs to promote healthy eating can be appealing, cost-effective and capable of reaching large groups of children and caregivers. Providing online resources and interactive tools also represents a promising way of providing support to kindergartens, however data on such interventions targeting diet and meals in kindergartens are scarce.publishedVersio

Associations between breastfeeding mode and duration and food neophobia in toddlerhood : A cross-sectional study among Norwegian toddlers

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Effectiveness of a kindergarten-based intervention to increase vegetable intake and reduce food neophobia amongst 1-year-old children: a cluster randomised controlled trial

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Effectiveness of a kindergarten-based intervention to increase vegetable intake and reduce food neophobia amongst 1-year-old children: a cluster randomised controlled trial

publishedVersio

A cluster randomized web-based intervention trial to reduce food neophobia and promote healthy diets among one-year-old children in kindergarten: study protocol

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Wow! They really like celeriac! Kindergarten teachers' experiences of an intervention to increase 1-year-olds' acceptance of vegetables

Abstract Exposure to varied foods in early life is important for short- and long-term health and development. Strategically introducing toddlers to new vegetables is not a common practice in Norwegian kindergartens. Therefore, we developed, conducted, and evaluated a web-based cluster randomised kindergarten intervention, Pre-schoolers’ Food Courage 2.0. The purpose of the current qualitative study was to explore kindergarten teachers' experience of implementing this intervention and what they thought facilitated the positive impact of the intervention reported in the quantitative evaluation. Ten individual telephonic interviews with kindergarten teachers who took part in the intervention study were conducted using a semi-structured interview guide. Data were transcribed verbatim and subjected to thematic analysis. Five main themes were identified: 1) One-year-olds love food and renewal of the menus was inspiring; 2) One-year-olds are surprisingly willing to try and accept novel foods; 3) Novel food at meals stimulate social interaction; and 4) The Sapere method is a fun and explorative activity for 1-year-olds. These four themes were the features perceived as the effective elements of the intervention by the kindergarten teachers. The fifth main theme was: 5) Sustained impact on kindergarten teachers’ practices and beliefs. The kindergarten teachers found the intervention easy to implement, and they were surprised by the foods 1-year-olds like and how the intervention increased their food acceptance. This age window of opportunity seems to be underused in kindergartens. By using the strategies described in the intervention, kindergarten staff effectively took advantage of this opportunity and consequently, child and kindergarten staff behaviour in relation to food was enhanced. Interventions targeting healthy feeding practices may potentially have a long-term public health impact by increasing food variety and vegetable intake in toddlers.publishedVersio

Barns matmot 2.0 : Diet, development, and food neophobia in early years. How to promote healthy diets in a kindergarten setting

Early diet has a profound impact on a child’s development, growth, and future health. A varied diet with a high intake of vegetables is positive in several domains of health. In Norway, as in many other countries, the intake of vegetables is too low among both children and adults. An important barrier to vegetable intake in children is food neophobia. Food neophobia, meaning unwillingness to try unfamiliar foods, is a trait that is most explicit in children between two and six years of age. As this age period is important for the development of food preferences and lifelong dietary habits, understanding which factors are related to food neophobia in early age is important to know how to best improve long-term diet and lay the foundations for lifelong health. Most children eat several meals per day in kindergarten. The kindergarten setting is thus an arena with great opportunity to influence the food intake and food preferences of young children. Web-based intervention programs to promote healthy eating can be appealing, cost-effective and capable of reaching large groups of children and caregivers. Providing online resources and interactive tools also represents a promising way of providing support to kindergartens, however data on such interventions targeting diet and meals in kindergartens are scarce

Associations between breastfeeding mode and duration and food neophobia in toddlerhood: A cross-sectional study among Norwegian toddlers

publishedVersio

A cluster randomized web-based intervention trial to reduce food neophobia and promote healthy diets among one-year-old children in kindergarten: study protocol

Abstract Background A child’s first years of life are crucial for cognitive development and future health. Studies show that a varied diet with a high intake of vegetables is positive for both weight and cognitive development. The present low intake of vegetables in children’s diets is therefore a concern. Food neophobia can be a barrier for vegetable intake in children. Our hypothesis is that interventions that can increase children’s intake of vegetables should be introduced early in life to overcome children’s neophobia. This study aims to develop, measure and compare the effect of two different interventions among one-year-old children in kindergartens to reduce food neophobia and promote healthy diets. Methods The kindergartens are randomized to one of three groups: two different intervention groups and one control group. We aimed to include a total of 210 children in the study. The first intervention group will be served a warm lunch meal with a variety of vegetables, 3 days a week during the intervention period of 3 months. The second intervention group will be served the same meals and, in addition, kindergarten staff will be asked to implement pedagogical tools including sensory lessons, adapted from the Sapere method, and advices on meal practice and feeding practices. The control group continues their usual meal practices. Parents and kindergarten staff will complete questionnaires regarding food neophobia, food habits and cognitive development at baseline and post intervention. A similar intervention among 2-year-old children in kindergarten has been implemented and evaluated earlier. We will investigate whether a digital version of this intervention has an effect, because digital interventions can be easily implemented nationwide. We will also investigate whether there are benefits of conducting such interventions in younger children, before the onset of food neophobia. Questionnaires, information videos and recipes will be digitally distributed. Discussion Results of this study will provide new knowledge about whether a sensory education and a healthy meal intervention targeting children, kindergarten staff and parents will reduce levels of food neophobia in children, improve parental and kindergarten feeding practices, improve children’s dietary variety, improve children’s cognitive development and reduce childhood overweight. Trial registration ISRCTN98064772

Effectiveness of a kindergarten-based intervention to increase vegetable intake and reduce food neophobia amongst 1-year-old children: a cluster randomised controlled trial

Background: Children’s first years of life are crucial to their future health. Studies show that a varied diet with a high intake of vegetables is positive in several domains of health. The present low vegetable intake amongst children is, therefore, a concern. Food neophobia is a common barrier to vegetable intake in children. As most Norwegian children attend kindergarten from an early age, kindergartens could contribute to the prevention of food neophobia and the promotion of vegetable intake. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a cluster randomised trial amongst 1-year-old children in kindergarten to reduce food neophobia and promote healthy eating. Methods: Kindergartens were randomly allocated to either a control group or one of two intervention groups. Both intervention groups (diet and diet + Sapere-method) were served a warm lunch meal including three alternating intervention vegetables, whilst the intervention group 2 (diet + Sapere) in addition received tools for weekly sensory lessons. The intervention was digitally administered via information and recipes on a study website. The control group did not receive any information. Parents completed digitally distributed questionnaires addressing food neophobia and food habits at baseline and post-intervention. Results: The parents of 144 1-year-old children in 46 kindergartens completed the questionnaires, which were included in the main analysis. The results suggested a higher intake of the intervention vegetables in group 2 (diet + Sapere) compared to the control group. The effect on total vegetable intake was inconclusive. No effect was observed on the level of food neophobia in either of the intervention group. Conclusion: This digitally delivered dietary and sensory intervention promoted the intake of intervention-targeted vegetables with inconclusive effect on total vegetable intake due to large loss to follow-up. No effect on the level of food neophobia was detected