Combating Coercive Feeding: High 5 for Kids Observes Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in Relation to Common Parenting Strategies Holly Bante, B.A., Kimberly Hessler, M.S., R.D., Amanda Harrod, M.P.H., Michael Elliott, Ph.D., Debra Haire-Joshu, Ph.D. Characteristic (N = 1658) Parent: MN age 28.9 ± 7.0 MN BMI 27.1 ± 6.2 % Parent Gender Male Female Parent Race White African American Other Parent Education Level High School or Less High School Graduate Some College or Technical School College Graduate or More Core Themes Asking Skills: Children should learn to request fruits and vegetables from their parents. Parents should be responsive to their children’s requests of fruits and vegetables. Fruit and Vegetable Intake: Increase fruit and vegetable intake by one serving per day. Small, slow steps toward incorporating new and more fruits and vegetables into the routine diet. Quality of Fruits and Vegetables: Promote consumption of healthiest fruits and vegetables currently being eaten, but at less than the daily recommendation. Non-coercive Parenting: How food is presented to a child impacts his or her acceptance of it. Parents use a variety of strategies to get their child to eat. Coercive feeding practices have negative impacts on food consumption What is Coercive Feeding? Strategies used in which a child is made to eat. Why do parents use Coercive Feeding strategies? Well-intentioned parents use these strategies to get a child to eat more of a certain type of food. What are some common Coercive Feeding strategies? One Bite Rule : forcing a child to eat at least one bite of everything on his plate. Clean Your Plate Rule : the child must eat everything on his plate before leaving the table. Using Dessert as a Reward : parents often bribe their children to eat or engage in other behaviors by offering dessert as a reward. How do Coercive Feeding strategies negatively impact children? Strategies that parents often use to increase consumption of foods may affect a child’s ability to listen to internal huger and satiety cues, altering a child’s ability to self-regulate food intake which may lead to childhood overweight. Background Less than 1/3 of children eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. The average adult consumes 3.6 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Impact of consuming one more serving of fruits and vegetables daily: Risk of lung cancer would be reduced by 10%. Purpose Decrease risk for cancer by increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables and increasing physical activity among parents and their children Prevent diet-related cancers in families living in the Southeast corner of Missouri, often called the bootheel. Specific Aim High 5 for Kids is a community based program designed to intervene with parents to promote their preschool children’s (age 3-5) preference for and intake of fruits and vegetables. Previous Research Continuation of “High 5, Low Fat” ( ) Obesity Prevention Center: Saint Louis University School of Public Health Funded by: National Cancer Institute Purpose: To decrease fat and increase fruit and vegetable intake through goal setting. Results: Through nutrition education aimed at empowering parents with appropriate child feeding techniques, H5LF successfully improved the dietary intake of African American parents, as indicated by increased fruit and vegetable intake, decreased fat consumption, increased frequency of low fat eating behaviors, and parental role modeling of dietary behaviors. Demographics Acknowledgements Parents as Teachers National Cancer Institute Project Materials : The High 5 for Kids program includes 4 personal visits, facilitated by parent educators, reinforcing each of the 4 core themes. Curriculum: Factors that influence children’s food intake and/or physical activity are presented in each personal visit: Neophobia (see examples on right) Role-Modeling Food Availability/Accessibility TV Viewing Child Storybooks Parent Handouts and Recipes Parent Educator-Visit Plan