title: Mid-childhood fruit and vegetable consumption: The roles of early liking, early consumption, and maternal consumption.
abstract: Previous studies have shown that early liking, early consumption, and maternal consumption of fruits and vegetables (F&V) each predict children's F&V consumption, but no one has examined the independent contributions of these three correlated factors. We aim to examine the extent to which each of these 3 factors is associated with F&V consumption in mid-childhood after accounting for the other 2 in the analysis. We analyzed data from 901 mother-child dyads from Project Viva, a prospective pre-birth cohort study. Mothers reported their child's early liking and consumption of F&V at age 2 years and later consumption at mid-childhood (median age 7.7 years). They also reported their own consumption of F&V at 6 months postpartum. We used multivariable linear regression models to examine the independent associations of these 3 factors with mid-childhood consumption, adjusting for socio-demographic, pregnancy, and child confounders. At 2 years, 53% of the mothers strongly agreed that their child liked fruit and 25% strongly agreed that their child liked vegetables. F&V consumption was 2.5 (1.3) and 1.8 (1.1) times/d at age 2 y and 1.5 (1.1) and 1.3 (0.8) times/d in mid-childhood. Maternal F&V consumption was 1.4 (1.1) and 1.5 (1.0) times/d, respectively. Children's early consumption played the most predominant role. For every 1 time/d increment in children's early consumption of F&V, mid-childhood consumption was higher by 0.25 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.19, 0.30) times/d for fruits and 0.21 (95% CI: 0.16, 0.26) times/d for vegetables, adjusted for confounders plus the other 2 exposures. In conclusion, children's early F&V consumption has the most significant influence on children's later consumption.
authors.affiliation: Division of Behavioral Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14214, USA. Electronic address: kailingkong@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Kai Ling
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: Obesity Prevention Program, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Matthew W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Gillman
authors.affiliation: Obesity Prevention Program, Department of Population Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
authors.forename: Sheryl L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Rifas-Shiman
authors.affiliation: Division of Behavioral Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14214, USA; Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health, School of Public Health and Health Professions, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14214, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaozhong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002664:Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D015331:Cohort Studies; D000072001:Diet, Healthy; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D009035:Mothers; D016487:Parenting; D010349:Patient Compliance; D049590:Postpartum Period; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014675:Vegetables
keywords: Early consumption; Early liking; Fruit and vegetable consumption; Maternal consumption