The development and long-term health of children are linked to eating habits from very early on. These eating habits are shaped by a combination of genetic, familial, and environmental factors, all of which are being studied by researchers and practitioners. A recent article summarized the current data on effective determinants of childrens' eating habits.¹ Some of the (actionable) take-home messages are listed below.

Parental Influences

• Pressuring kids to eat fruits and vegetables, limiting their access to sweets and fatty snacks, and using food as a reward are all strongly linked to children's disinhibited eating behaviors (the tendency to lose control and overeat).
• The more inconsistent parents are with their eating schedules or serving healthy vs. unhealthy foods, the greater children's eating behaviors are disinhibited.
• The presence of at least one parent during the evening meal is associated with lower risk of poor consumption of fruit, vegetables, and dairy foods and a lower risk of skipping breakfast.
• Children who described their parents as authoritative (encourages child to be independent but places limits and controls on their actions) ate more fruit per day, fewer unhealthy snacks per day, and breakfast more days per week than did those who described their parents as neglectful (uninvolved, detached or hands-off).
• Girls who were overweight at 5 years of age and received higher levels of restriction had the highest tendency to eat in the absence of hunger.

Environmental Factors

• The earlier and broader the experiences with food are, the healthier the child's diet.
• The more fruits and vegetables available at home the more fruits and vegetables the child will consume.
• The more fruit juice and breakfast bars available at home the less actual fruits and vegetables the child will consume.
• The greater the frequency of meals in front of the television and/or the lesser the frequency of family meals, and/or the greater the use of food as a reward, the higher the child's intake of sugar-sweetened beverages.

Authors concluded that while there is evidence of a strong genetic influence on appetite traits in children, the environment plays an important role in modeling children's eating behaviors. Thus, it is important to inform and motivate parents to become a model for children by: providing a variety of healthy foods and structured meals at home; eating together with children at the table; allowing children to choose what and how much to eat within what is provided; and not using food as a reward. Despite the good intentions of parents, these practices are, unfortuantely, not commonplace. Share what you're doing to spread these messages to the parents you know/work with.

¹Scaglioni, S., Arrizza, C., Vecchi, F., & Tedeschi, S. (2011). Determinants of children's eating behaviors. Am J Clin Nutr, 94 (suppl), 2006s-2011s.