Factors Associated With Food Texture Acceptance in 4- to 36-Month-Old French Children: Findings From a Survey Study

Abstract

Food texture plays an important role in food acceptance by young children, especially during the complementary feeding period. The factors driving infant acceptance of a variety of food textures are not well-known. This study summarizes maternal reports of children's ability to eat foods of different textures (here: acceptance) and associated factors. Mothers of 4- to 36-month-old children (n = 2,999) answered an online survey listing 188 food-texture combinations representing three texture levels: purees (T1), soft small pieces (T2), hard/large pieces, and double textures (T3). For each offered combination, they reported whether it was spat out or eaten with or without difficulty by the child. A global food texture acceptance score (TextAcc) was calculated for each child as an indicator of their ability to eat the offered textured foods. The results were computed by age class from 4-5 to 30-36 months. The ability to eat foods without difficulty increased with age and was ranked as follows: T1> T2 > T3 at all ages. TextAcc was positively associated with exposure to T2 (in the age classes between 6 and 18 months old) and T3 (6-29 months) and negatively associated with exposure to T1 (9-36 months). Children's developmental characteristics, as well as maternal feeding practices and feelings with regard to the introduction of solids, were associated with texture acceptance either directly or indirectly by modulating exposure. Children's ability to eat with their fingers, gagging frequency, and to a lesser extent, dentition as well as maternal feelings with regard to the introduction of solids were the major factors associated with acceptance. This survey provides a detailed description of the development of food texture acceptance over the complementary feeding period, confirms the importance of exposure to a variety of textures and identifies a number of additional person-related associated factors.

Keywords: chewing skills; complementary feeding; eating ability; feeding practices; food texture; infant; parental report-based measures.

Figure 1

Mean number of food-texture combinations offered (white box) and their level of acceptance (spat out: light gray box, eaten with difficulties: dark gray box, and eaten without difficulty: black box) as a function of children's age class and texture levels (T1, T2, and T3).

Figure 2

Mean percentages of the number of combinations “spat-out,” “eaten with difficulties,” and “eaten without difficulty” over the number of combinations offered, by texture level and by age class. Frequencies are presented when the median of offered combination(s) was at least equal to 1 (T2 and T3 data are thus missing up to 7 and 8 months, respectively).

Figure 3

Texture acceptance score (TextAcc) per age class. Mean scores associated with different letters (a, b, …, k) are significantly different (p < 0.05).