Food Neophobia in Preschool Children

Food neophobia is generally considered as the reluctance to eat or the avoidance of new foods. Neophobia is not a permanent aversion to new food; acceptance can be promoted by repeated exposure or modeling the intake of the rejected food product.The study followed a number of 168 children aged between 2 and 5 years. The parents of the children filled a questionnaire regarding the physiological medical data of the children, the feeding habits (quantitative and qualitative). Neophobia was measured using the Child Food Neophobia Scale (CFNS). The study pursued the association between neophobia and the sex of the patient, the quality of the food products, the childrens diet (presence of fruits, vegetables), the weight of the patients, the duration of breastfeeding, the education level of the mother. Girls present higher scores on the CFNS scale than the boys. Children whose mothers have higher education were susceptible to having a higher variety of fruits in their diet. Children with a higher score on the CFNS scale and those with siblings were susceptible to having a lower variety of fruits and dairy products in their diet and a higher intake of fast-food products.The results highlight the necessity for early exposure of the children to a high variety of nutrient foods and the need to educate the parents with regard to the strategies needed in order to overcome food neophobia.