title: Relationship between pickiness and subsequent development in body mass index and diet intake in obesity prone normal weight preschool children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Most children have periods in their life where they reject familiar as well as non-familiar food items and this is often referred to as pickiness. The consequences of pickiness may be malnutrition and, if prolonged, potentially lower body weight. However, studies investigating the consequence of pickiness on subsequent changes in diet intake and weight are limited.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To examine whether pickiness influences body mass index as well as diet intake over subsequent 15 months among obesity prone normal weight children aged 2-6 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data was obtained from the "Healthy Start" intervention study which included 271 children aged 2-6 years susceptible to overweight later in life. Information on pickiness was obtained from a parental questionnaire. Dietary habits were collected by 4-day dietary records filled in by the parents and height and weight were measured by trained health professionals and both measured twice over a 15 month period. Linear regression models were performed to assess the influence of pickiness on body mass index and diet with adjustments for possible confounders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No differences in mean BMI Z-score were seen between picky/non-picky (P = 0.68) and little picky/non-picky (P = 0.68) children at 15 month follow-up. Picky children had a lower intake of protein (P = 0.01) than non-picky children despite no differences in total energy intake (P = 0.74), or in the other macronutrients, or the intake of fruit and vegetables, though children being a little picky had a lower intake of starch compared to non-picky children (P = 0.05). Results were essentially similar before and after adjustment for key covariates.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study showed that BMI Z-score after 15 months follow-up was similar for picky and non-picky children. Picky children seemed to develop a lower protein intake despite similar total energy intake and diet composition.
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Dietary Studies at The Parker Institute, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg University Hospital, The Capital Region, Frederiksberg, Denmark.|National Institute of Public health, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Jeanett Friis
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9300-9009
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Rohde
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Dietary Studies at The Parker Institute, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg University Hospital, The Capital Region, Frederiksberg, Denmark.|Department of Clinical Research, University of Southern Denmark, Odense Patient Data Explorative Network (OPEN), Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark.
authors.forename: Mina Nicole
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Händel
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Dietary Studies at The Parker Institute, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg University Hospital, The Capital Region, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Stougaard
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Dietary Studies at The Parker Institute, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg University Hospital, The Capital Region, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Nanna Julie
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Olsen
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Dietary Studies at The Parker Institute, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg University Hospital, The Capital Region, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trærup
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health and Center for Healthy Aging, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Erik Lykke
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Mortensen
authors.affiliation: Research Unit for Dietary Studies at The Parker Institute, Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg University Hospital, The Capital Region, Frederiksberg, Denmark.|National Institute of Public health, University of Southern Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.|Boden Institute of Obesity, Nutrition Exercise & Eating Disorders, University of Sydney, Camperdown, New South Wales, Australia.|Department of Public health, Section for General Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Berit Lilienthal
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Heitmann
mesh_terms: D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004032:Diet; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*