Body Composition in Fussy-Eating Children, with and without Neurodevelopmental Disorders, and Their Parents, Following a Taste Education Intervention

Funding Information: We thank the University of Iceland’s Research fund (doctoral fund and research grant) and the Public Health Fund of the Directorate of Health for their support. We also thank Marta Ólafsdóttir for assisting with the Tanita body composition measurements. Further, we are grateful to the Pediatric Department of the Landspítali University Hospital for the loan of their Tanita MC-780. Finally, we would like to express our deep gratitude to all the participants in our study and our assistant taste educators. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. ; Fussy eaters may have an increased risk of becoming overweight or obese as adolescents, with fussy eating and weight status also correlating with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDs) such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Further, maternal and children’s weight status relationships are well-established. In this study, we analyzed the body composition of parent–child dyads using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). Fifty-one children aged 8–12 years, with an ND (n = 18) and without (n = 33), and their parents, participated in a 7-week food-based Taste Education intervention with 6-month follow-up. The paired t-test was used to compare differences in body composition based on children’s ND status. In logistic regression analysis, odds of children being in the overweight/obese or overfat/obese categories increased by a factor of 9.1 and 10.6, respectively, when having NDs, adjusting for parents’ BMI (body mass index) or fat percentage (FAT%). Children with NDs and their parents had significantly higher mean BMI-SDS (BMI standard deviation score) and FAT% at pre-intervention than children without NDs and their parents. Mean BMI-SDS and FAT% lowered significantly between time points for children with NDs and their parents but not for children without NDs or their parents. The findings underline the need for additional exploration into the relationships between children’s and parents’ body composition ...