Nutritional status and Mediterranean diet quality among Spanish children and adolescents with food neophobia

- Nutritional status and KidMed data were examined in neophobic children/adolescents.
- Food neophobia was unrelated to either BMI or body fat percentage.
- Food neophobics presented a poorer quality Mediterranean diet.
- Overall, food neophobics ate less fruit, vegetables, and fish, but more sweets.
- Food neophobia was more common in girls and did not decrease across development.

Food neophobia is a personality trait that can influence children's food preferences and, therefore, their intake of different food groups. The association between food neophobia and nutritional status (both anthropometric and body composition measures) remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine whether Spanish children and adolescents with food neophobia show a different Mediterranean diet quality and different body composition measures compared with their non-neophobic peers. A community sample of 831 participants (368 males and 463 females) aged between 8 and 16 years were classified into three groups based on scores obtained on the Spanish Child Food Neophobia Scale. The results showed that food neophobia was not related to either BMI or body fat percentage, although neophobic children did have slightly lower weight and skeletal muscle mass than their neophilic counterparts. The KidMed index showed that neophobic children and adolescents presented a poorer quality of Mediterranean diet, due to a lower intake of fruit, vegetables, and fish, a higher intake of sweets or candy, and by reason of having an unbalanced breakfast. Neophobia was more common among females than males, but its occurrence was similar across age groups. These findings support previous research suggesting that neophobia impacts on diet quality. However, no relationship between diet and BMI was found.