Do Children Who Were Preschool Picky Eaters Eat Different Foods at School Lunch When Aged 13 Years Than Their Non-Picky Peers?

backgroundPicky eating behaviour is characterised by an unwillingness to eat familiar foods, try new foods, and/or strong food preferences. Prevalence peaks at about 3 years of age and usually declines during school years but behavioural characteristics may persist. Parental pressure may influence this. Our aim was to assess food choices in a school setting, away from the family environment, of 13-year-old children who were preschool picky eaters compared with those who were never picky eaters.

methodsChildren were recruited at birth in south-west England and followed to age 13 years. Children (n = 7554) were classified as never (26%), low (59%) or high picky eaters (15%) based on parental responses to questionnaires completed when they were pre-schoolers. In a questionnaire completed at age 13 years (n = 5348) the children were asked about frequency of consumption of lunchtime food items at school. Adjusted binary logistic regression modelling was used to determine the associations with picky eating classification.

resultsThere were no differences between picky and non-picky eaters in the frequency of packed lunch compared with school dinner uptake. Both high and low picky eaters were less likely to have meat, fish or cheese/egg sandwiches, or fruit or salad in packed lunches than non-picky eaters. High picky eaters ate fewer ham/meat sandwiches (OR 0.49 [95% CI 0.39, 0.61]) and fruits (0.62 [0.49, 0.80]) than non-picky eaters. Picky eaters were more likely to choose meat products in school dinners (e.g. meat burgers/sausages 1.29 [1.06, 1.57]) and have similar intakes of roast meats and fruit, but were less likely to have cooked vegetables or salad (0.68 [0.52, 0.90] and 0.62 [0.46, 0.83] respectively) than non-picky eaters.

conclusionBehaviours characteristic of picky eating, such as avoiding meat, fish and fruit, were less evident in school dinner than packed lunch choices. However, avoidance of vegetables/salad persisted. It is likely that family norms have a stronger influence over packed lunch content than over school dinner choices where the child has more autonomy and may be influenced by their peers.