Food Neophobia: A Common Challenge Among Brazilian Children with Down Syndrome

Abstract

Objective: Food neophobia (FN) is defined as the reluctance to eat new foods. The present study aimed to evaluate FN in Brazilian children with Down syndrome (DS) based on their caregivers' perceptions. Method: This was a descriptive, cross-sectional study. The convenient sample consisted of responses from the caregivers of 231 children aged 4 to 11 years. Recruitment occurred through chain sampling, research, and dissemination via social media profiles, associations, and emails. Caregivers answered sociodemographic questions and the Brazilian Children's Food Neophobia Questionnaire (BCFNeo), an instrument previously developed and validated for the Brazilian context. Data were exported from the Google Form^® platform and analyzed using Excel^® and SPSS^®. Descriptive statistics, the independent Student's t-test, the Mann-Whitney U test, and the Friedman test were used, following the methodology indicated by BCFNeo. Results: The results indicated a high FN prevalence rate of 41.1%. The general domain showed the highest prevalence (48.1%). There were no significant differences in FN across age groups (p > 0.05), and boys were more neophobic than girls (p = 0.006). The school environment emerged as a favorable setting to encourage the consumption of new fruits (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Children with DS exhibited similar levels of FN compared to Brazilian neurodiverse children. This study highlights the need for further research into eating behaviors in children with DS and emphasizes the school's role as a space for the promotion of healthy eating habits.

Keywords: Down syndrome; caregiver perception; child; food neophobia; prevalence.