The Longitudinal Relationship Between Diet Quality and Executive Functioning Development of Hispanic Preschoolers in Houston, Texas.

BACKGROUND: Diet quality has been found to be related to cognitive health in school-aged children. However, this relationship remains understudied among Hispanic preschool-aged children, who are vulnerable to poor dietary habits and low cognitive development due to socioeconomic, cultural, and structural disparities. OBJECTIVE: This longitudinal study evaluated whether the diet quality of preschool-aged children would be associated with executive functions (EFs) in later childhood. DESIGN: This is a secondary analysis of a longitudinal study of Hispanic preschool-aged children (age 4 and 5 years) at baseline (Time 1) and 18 months (Time 2). PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: This study included 185 mother-child dyads with complete data at Time 1, recruited through Head Start centers in Houston, TX, beginning in 2011. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Mothers reported on their child's dietary intake via 3 24-hour recalls, which was used to calculate Healthy Eating Index (HEI)-2010 component and total scores. Laboratory tasks assessed cold EFs (tapping and Flexible Item Selection Tasks) and hot EFs (delay of gratification and gift-wrapping tasks). Whereas higher scores on tapping, Flexible Item Selection Task, and delay of gratification tasks represent a high EF, higher scores in gift-wrapping task represent a low EF. STATISTICAL ANALYSES PERFORMED: Hierarchical linear regression analyses assessed the relationship between diet quality, as measured by HEI-2010 total and component scores, at Time 1 (independent variables) and EF outcomes (dependent variables) at Time 2, controlling for child sex, age, body mass index z score, and EF at Time 1. RESULTS: HEI-2010 component score for fatty acids (b = -.13; P = .04) and seafood and plant proteins (b = .09; P = .05), were respectively related to later cold and hot EFs of Hispanic preschool-aged children. Other HEI components or the overall score did not predict EFs. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that specific HEI components support cold and hot EFs development among Hispanic preschool-aged children, but total HEI-2010 score does not. Experimental research is needed to assess the influence of dietary interventions on cognitive development of Hispanic preschool-aged children.

Authoritative parent feeding style is associated with better child dietary quality at dinner among low-income minority families.

Background: Parent feeding styles have been linked to child weight status across multiple studies. However, to our knowledge, the link between feeding styles and children's dietary quality, a more proximal outcome, has not been investigated. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the relation between parent feeding styles and dietary quality of Head Start preschoolers' dinner meals. Design: The amount of food served and consumed by children was measured by using a standardized digital photography method during 3 in-home dinner observations of low-income minority families in Houston, Texas. Trained dietitians entered food served and consumed into the Nutrient Data System for Research 2009 for nutrient analysis. Overall dietary quality of the food served and consumed at dinner was evaluated by using the Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI-2010). Parent feeding style was assessed with the use of the Caregiver's Feeding Style Questionnaire (CFSQ). On the basis of a parent's level of demandingness and responsiveness to his or her child during feeding, the CFSQ categorizes parent feeding into 4 styles: authoritative (high demandingness and high responsiveness), authoritarian (high demandingness and low responsiveness), indulgent (low demandingness and high responsiveness), or uninvolved (low demandingness and low responsiveness). Results: For the overall sample, the mean ± SD HEI score for dinner served was 44.2 ± 8.4, and the mean ± SD HEI score for dinner consumed was 43.4 ± 7.0. In the fully adjusted model, ANCOVA indicated that the authoritative parent feeding style was associated with significantly higher child dietary quality compared with the authoritarian feeding style (mean ± SEE HEI consumed-authoritative 45.5 ± 0.9; authoritarian: 41.9 ± 0.7; P = 0.001). Conclusions: Parent feeding style contributes to the overall dietary quality of children, and among low-income minority preschoolers an authoritative feeding style was associated with the highest dietary quality of the 4 feeding styles. Interventions to promote feeding practices that contribute to authoritative feeding are needed to improve the dietary quality of preschool children at dinner. This trial was registered at https://clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02696278.

Portion sizes for children are predicted by parental characteristics and the amounts parents serve themselves.

BACKGROUND: Children's energy intakes are influenced by the portions they are served. Factors influencing the amounts adults offer children are not well described. OBJECTIVE: We assessed whether the amounts that were served to and consumed by children at meals were related to amounts that parents served themselves. DESIGN: In this repeated-measures, cross-sectional observational study, 145 parents and their preschoolers (82 Hispanic, 57 African American, 6 unidentified) were recruited from Head Start settings in Houston, TX. The amounts served to and consumed by children and parents during 3 at-home evening meals were measured and analyzed. We assessed children's and parents' heights and weights, and body mass indexes (BMIs) were calculated. Associations between portions served for parents and children and between amounts served to and consumed by children were evaluated. Multiple linear regression was used to determine whether maternal characteristics (race-ethnicity, sociodemographic factors, and caregivers' BMIs) predicted the amounts caregivers served to children. RESULTS: The amounts that parents served themselves were significantly associated with the amounts that they served to their children (r = 0.51, P < 0.0001). Multiple regression analysis showed that African American parents (compared with Hispanics) served more food to themselves and to their children (P < 0.01, R² = 6.9%) and that employed (compared with unemployed) parents served more food to their children (P = 0.025, R² = 3.3%). The amounts served to children were strongly associated with the amounts children consumed (r = 0.88, P < 0.0001). When parents served more to themselves, they also served more to their children (P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: These findings underscore the strong relation between portions offered by caregivers and the amounts children consume at a meal and suggest that factors unrelated to the child (such as the amount a parent serves himself or herself) are important predictors of children's consumption. Efforts aimed at improving parents' recognition of developmentally appropriate portions for young children could be useful for future obesity-prevention efforts.