Eating behavior, family routines and nutritional status in children: Pilot study

Abstract

Nutritional status is the result between nutritional intake, nutrient needs and the body's ability to assimilate, absorb and utilize nutrients. It can affect children in different dimensions, on the one hand there is malnutrition and on the other, overweight and obesity. One variable that can be related is eating behavior, which establishes people's relationship with food, through direct experience with food, social status, family traditions and affective symbolism. In addition, the family has a primordial role in the behavior, since their daily life is organized around activities that promote their identity, one of these are routines, repetitive activities with few variations and that, frequently, respond to functional needs. Objective: to describe eating behavior, family routines and nutritional status of children. Method: descriptive, cross-sectional pilot study with stratified sampling. 50 mother-child dyads (4 to 11 years old) participated. The Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire CEBQ, validated and translated in Mexico, was applied. The Family Routines Inventory FRI. In addition, anthropometric measurements of the children's weight and height were taken. Results: In the present study descriptive analyses were carried out, referring to eating behaviors, a higher mean was found in the subscale of attraction to food 50.88 (SD=12.35), according to family routines, as expressed by the mothers, a mean of 54.26 (SD= 12.30) was found, approaching a moderate routinization.