Intake of Fibre-Associated Foods and Texture Preferences in Relation to Weight Status Among 9–12 Years Old Children in 6 European Countries

Publisert 2021

Sammendrag

Plant foods, rich in fibre, can offer textures that children find difficult to orally
manipulate, resulting in low preferences but are important for a healthy diet and
prevention of overweight in children. Our aim was to investigate preferences for food
texture, intake of fibre-associated foods and the relation to BMI. Three hundred
thirty European children (9–12 years, 54% female) indicated their texture preferences
using the Child-Food-Texture-Preference- Questionnaire (CFTPQ), and their parents
responded on fibre-associated food consumption and anthropometric information. BMI
was significantly lower for children with higher intake of wholegrain alternatives of
common foods; in addition to being significantly influenced by country and the wearing
of a dental brace. Overall BMI-for-age-percentiles (BMI_pct) were negatively associated
with the consumption of wholegrain cereals, white pasta and wholemeal products and
positively associated with the intake of legumes and white biscuits. In males, BMI_pct
were negatively associated with wholegrain products and dried fruits, and in females,
positively with legume consumption. A few country-related associations were found
for BMI_pct and wholegrain biscuits, seeds and nuts and refined products. No overall
correlation was found between BMI_pct and the texture preference of soft/hard foods by
CFTPQ, except in Austria.We conclude that this study revealed evidence of a connection
between fibre-associated foods and children‘s BMI at a cross-cultural level and that
sex is an important determinant of fibre-associated food intake and the development
of overweight in childhood.