Study examines changes in home food availability and nutrient intake for young children

Early childhood is an important time to learn about nutrition and develop healthy eating behaviors. Young children depend on their parents to provide food options, and the availability of food in the home affects their food choices. A new study from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign looks at changes in home food availability and nutrient intake for children ages 2 to 4.

“It is important to understand how the environment children are in can influence their diet and nutrition. What types of foods and drinks are available at home, and how accessible are these items to the young child? It’s about the likelihood of exposure to food and having the opportunity to try food, as well as whether they can grab or grab food themselves,” said lead author Jennifer Barton, now an assistant research professor at Pennsylvania State University. Barton conducted the study as a postdoctoral research associate at the Family Resiliency Center in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS), part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES) at Illinois.

Barton and her colleagues used the Home Food Inventory (HFI) to measure food availability at ages 24, 36, and 48 months. The HFI is a comprehensive checklist of food categories administered by a research assistant who visits the homes of participating families. The researchers correlated the HFI data with surveys of the children’s food consumption, completed by their mothers.

We found significant changes over time in several food categories. Food items such as non-whole grains, processed meats, savory snacks, sweets and foods that can be microwaved or quickly prepared were more commonly available at home at 48 months compared to 24 and 36 months.

Jennifer Barton, lead author

The study involved 468 mothers and children participating in STRONG Kids 2, an ongoing research project in Illinois that looks at nutrition and healthy habits from infancy to age 10. STRONG Kids 2 co-directors Barbara Fiese, professor emerita of HDFS, and Sharon Donovan, professor of food science and human nutrition at Illinois, also contributed to the study.

The HFI includes an obesogenic score, which indicates the obesity risk of various foods. However, the scores are based on dietary recommendations for older children and include dairy products with a normal fat content, such as milk, yogurt and cheese. Toddlers have different energy and nutritional needs, and dairy products are considered part of a healthy diet for young children, necessary for growth and development.

The researchers tested three obesogenic scores, two of which were developmentally sensitive scores that excluded milk, yogurt and cheese. Even with the adjusted categories, they found that obesogenic scores increased significantly from 24 to 48 months.

“It makes sense that as children get older, the presence of more energy-dense and high-fat foods tends to increase. Children may request these foods more often, and outside influences, such as the opinions of peers, begin to become increasingly important. That is obvious. I would like to point out that we have discovered some positive changes. “Vegetables are also more readily available at home after 48 months,” says Barton.

“It’s not about labeling certain foods as good or bad. We all probably have foods in our homes that aren’t ‘recommended’. It’s really about trying to make sure we get enough nutritious, recommended foods and eat non-recommended items in moderation.”

A second research objective was to test the validity of the HFI measure for young children, as the method was developed for adolescents. Barton and her colleagues conducted extensive tests of the associations between food availability and nutrient intake, generally finding the expected results.

For example, the availability of processed meats such as lunch meat and hot dogs was correlated with higher saturated fat intake. Sweetened drinks, sweets, desserts and salty snacks were correlated with higher intake of those foods. A higher presence of fruits and vegetables in the home was also a consistent indicator of nutrients. These findings indicate that HFI is a reliable measure of food availability at home and has shown associations with food and nutrient intake for children aged 24, 36 and 48 months, the researchers concluded.

It’s important to support parents in making healthy decisions for their families, but food choice is about much more than individual behavior, Barton said.

“There are complex factors that influence parents’ decisions. Children may ask for certain foods, which comes from the influence of media and advertising. We also need to consider who else lives in the home, such as siblings, and parents may face work demands and financial stressors that can spill over into their family lives. Many people struggle with distance to food stores and access to fresh food, as well as food insecurity. I believe we need a food systems approach to ensure that people have access to nutritious food and that parents feel supported in making decisions to promote the health and well-being of themselves and their children,” she concluded.

The article, “Longitudinal Changes in Home Food Availability and Concurrent Associations with Food and Nutrient Intake Among Children at 24 to 48 Months” was published in Public Health Nutrition [DOI: 10.1017/S1368980024000375]. Authors include Jennifer M. Barton, Arden L. McMath, Stewart P. Montgomery, Sharon M. Donovan. and Barbara H. Fiese.

This research was funded by grants from the National Dairy Council, the Gerber Foundation, the Christopher Family Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture Hatch ILLU 793–330, and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), National Institutes of Health (Grant No. R01 DK107561) to Sharon Donovan. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.