Factors underlying mothers' decision to offer ultra-processed meals during early childhood

The growing evidence on the negative health effects of ultra-processed products indicates the need to develop strategies to discourage their consumption among infants and children. The development of such strategies requires a deeper understanding of the factors underlying children's consumption of ultra-processed products. In this context, the present work aimed to analyze factors underlying mothers' decision to offer meals composed of ultra-processed products during early childhood (6 months to 5 years old). An online survey with 888 mothers was conducted. Participants were shown a series of pictures of ultra-processed meals and were asked to indicate whether they would offer them to their children or not. A follow-up open-ended question was used to explore reasons underlying negative responses. A relevant proportion of mothers indicated that they would offer the ultra-processed meals to their children (48.5 % to 64.5 %). On the other hand, motives for not offering ultraprocessed meals to children were mainly related to food processing and nutritional composition. Several variables of the child (age, food fussiness), the mother (education level and socio-economic status), and the household (presence of children older than 5 years) had a significant effect on the likelihood of mothers offering ultra-processed meals and mentioning different reasons for not doing so. Results stress the need to implement strategies to increase perceived risk of ultra-processed products, particularly among parents with low educational level and from low socio-economic status.