Abstract:
Quality and adequate nutrition are essential for growth, development, health and well-being during childhood. Eating behaviours in early childhood may influence food preferences and aversions in later childhood. Food neophobia is the reluctance to eat or fear of novel foods. The primary aim was to estimate the prevalence of food neophobia in the 8-year-old Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) cohort and determine the eating behavioural predictors at 45-months, sociodemographic and breastfeeding characteristics of food neophobia. The secondary aim was to describe the prevalence of food neophobia for Māori, Pacific, and Asian children. A subsample of 4621 children and their mothers were analysed from the GUiNZ longitudinal study. Multivariate regression analyses were completed to determine the association between five eating behaviour measures at 45-months and the food neophobia scale (FNS) at 8-years, adjusted by sociodemographic and breastfeeding characteristics. Children could score a total of 10-70 on the FNS: ≥35 indicated neophobic tendencies, and 10-34 indicated neophilic tendencies. Fifty-two percent of 8-year-old children scored ≥35. The prevalence of children who scored ≥35 was greater for mothers with no qualification/secondary school education and children who were never breastfed. A higher prevalence of children with Pacific mothers scored ≥35, followed by Asian, Māori, and European/Other mothers. The eating behaviours at 45-months that were more likely to be associated with food neophobia at 8-years were: eating a limited or very limited variety of food; never or almost never eating the same food as the parents; finding mealtimes only ‘occasionally’ enjoyable, and always had a TV present during mealtimes. This study is the first to explore food neophobia in New Zealand, observing high rates of food neophobia in the nationally representative GUiNZ cohort, compared to internationally reported rates. This research supports current Food and Nutrition Guidelines, which recommend encouraging children to eat a wide variety of foods, eat the same food as their parents, encouraging families to make mealtimes more enjoyable, and turning the TV off during mealtimes.