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Assessing and Improving Diet Quality in Pediatric and Public Health...
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Assessing and Improving Diet Quality in Pediatric and Public Health Nutrition

A special issue of Children (ISSN 2227-9067). This special issue belongs to the section "Global Pediatric Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 January 2026) | Viewed by 1870

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ana Ilić

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Guest Editor
Department of Food Quality Control, University of Zagreb Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, Pierottijeva 6, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: pediatric nutrition; school nutrition policy; nutrition assessment methods; public health nutrition; nutritional epidemiology; nutrition education and behavioral science; ultra-processed food
Dr. Sara Sila

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Referral Centre for Pediatric Gastroenterology and Nutrition, Children’s Hospital Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: pediatric nutrition; clinical nutrition; gastroenterology; oncology
Prof. Dr. Daniela Čačić Kenjerić

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Food Technology Osijek, Department of Food and Nutrition Research, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Franje Kuhača 18, Osijek, Croatia
Interests: nutrition through the life cycle; dietary assessment methods; nutritional epidemiology; functional foods; sports nutrition

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Poor diet quality remains one of the main causes of childhood obesity, impaired nutritional status and diet-related non-communicable diseases in children. Understanding and improving dietary habits from childhood to adolescence is critical to long-term health outcomes.

This Special Issue addresses the challenges of assessing the quality of nutrition in the pediatric population and provides insight into their dietary habits. It also presents multidisciplinary research that evaluates the impact of nutritional strategies and programs, and explores innovative interventions and educations to improve the diet quality of children and adolescents. Therefore, the Special Issue welcomes submissions of original research articles, review articles, systematic reviews and meta-analyzes related to diet quality metrics and public health nutrition strategies and interventions.

This Special Issue provides an opportunity for researchers, practitioners and policy makers to share knowledge, insights and evidence that will help shape a healthier diet for future generations.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Ana Ilić
Dr. Sara Sila
Prof. Dr. Daniela Čačić Kenjerić
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Children is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • adolescents
  • children
  • dietary assessment
  • dietary habits
  • diet quality
  • infants
  • nutrition
  • nutrition educations
  • nutrition interventions
  • pediatric nutrition

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 244 KB  
Article
Factors Associated with Height-Promoting Dietary Practices Among Japanese Preschool Children: A Web-Based Cross-Sectional Study
by Kemal Sasaki, Tomomi Kobayashi, Yuki Tada, Yasuyo Wada and Tetsuji Yokoyama
Children 2026, 13(3), 391; https://doi.org/10.3390/children13030391 - 12 Mar 2026
Viewed by 719
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Parents of preschool children may adopt dietary practices intended to promote height growth. However, the correlates of such practices in the general population remain unclear. Methods: This web-based cross-sectional study included 1362 mothers of Japanese children aged 3–5 years. Mothers were assigned [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Parents of preschool children may adopt dietary practices intended to promote height growth. However, the correlates of such practices in the general population remain unclear. Methods: This web-based cross-sectional study included 1362 mothers of Japanese children aged 3–5 years. Mothers were assigned to the height-related dietary practice group if they had ever used dietary practices to promote their child’s height growth; all other mothers were classified into the no-practice group. The questionnaire assessed child and parental characteristics, including anthropometric measurements, history of short stature (height < −2 SD at any time point), history of food allergy, maternal information-seeking behavior regarding child growth, and current dietary intake. Associations with height-related dietary practices were examined using a multiple logistic regression analysis. Results: In total, 531 mothers (39.0%) were classified into the practice group. Older child age, history of short stature, history of food allergy, and information-seeking behavior were positively associated with height-related dietary practices, whereas parental height was inversely associated. Milk and dairy products are the most frequently used foods for height promotion. Children in the practice group were more likely to meet the cutoffs for milk/dairy products and fish, but their overall attainment was low. In the analyses of retrospectively reported height SD score trajectories, no group-by-time interactions were observed. Conclusions: Height-related dietary practices were associated with growth-related concerns and parental characteristics rather than differential height gain over time. Health guidance may help parents adopt balanced diets that support overall nutrition and healthy growth rather than focusing on specific foods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing and Improving Diet Quality in Pediatric and Public Health Nutrition)
19 pages, 848 KB  
Article
Seeing Food Through Young Children’s Eyes: Children’s Representations of Parental Feeding Strategies and Food Choice Reasoning
by Irith Freedman, Anat Gesser-Edelsburg and Billie Eilam
Children 2026, 13(3), 347; https://doi.org/10.3390/children13030347 - 27 Feb 2026
Viewed by 413
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Research on children’s eating has primarily focused on parental feeding practices and dietary outcomes, with less attention to how young children themselves understand parental food-related messages and relate them to their own food choices. Recognizing children as active participants in food [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Research on children’s eating has primarily focused on parental feeding practices and dietary outcomes, with less attention to how young children themselves understand parental food-related messages and relate them to their own food choices. Recognizing children as active participants in food socialization, this study aimed to examine preschool children’s representations of parental feeding strategies alongside their expressed food-choice considerations. Methods: A qualitative, exploratory, multi-method design was employed within a constructivist framework. Forty kindergarten children aged 4 years 10 months to 5 years 8 months participated in individual, play-based sessions conducted in familiar educational settings. Data were generated using two complementary tools: a doll role-play task eliciting children’s representations of parental feeding strategies and a simulated grocery shopping task eliciting food-choice considerations. All sessions were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results: During role-play, children frequently portrayed parents as emphasizing health-related arguments, control, and negotiation when guiding food intake. Less frequently, they represented strategies such as encouragement to try, deception, or references to body weight. In contrast, during the food-choice task, children’s selections were primarily guided by personal preference, with health considerations mentioned less often. For most participants, the feeding strategies attributed to parents did not closely align with the considerations guiding their own food choices. Conclusions: The findings highlight young children’s active and selective engagement with parental feeding discourse and underscore the contextual nature of food-related meaning-making in early childhood. Rather than reflecting a straightforward transmission of parental messages, children’s food choices appear shaped by situational affordances and perceived autonomy, supporting child-centered approaches to nutrition education and health promotion. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing and Improving Diet Quality in Pediatric and Public Health Nutrition)
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17 pages, 740 KB  
Article
Design and Reproducibility of Food Propensity Questionnaire for Characterizing Intake of Pyrethroid and Organophosphate Insecticides in Adolescents
by Marija Macan, Antonija Sulimanec, Jelena Kovačić, Irena Keser, Breige McNulty, Anne Nugent, Željka Babić, Martina Pavlić, Darja Sokolić, Patricia Tomac, Adrijana Košćec Bjelajac and Veda Marija Varnai
Children 2026, 13(3), 320; https://doi.org/10.3390/children13030320 - 25 Feb 2026
Viewed by 410
Abstract
Background/Objectives: There is currently no food propensity questionnaire (FPQ) developed specifically to address pesticide intake in the adolescent population. Therefore, the objective of our study was to design a specific FPQ with emphasis on fruit and vegetable consumption and dietary exposure to pyrethroids [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: There is currently no food propensity questionnaire (FPQ) developed specifically to address pesticide intake in the adolescent population. Therefore, the objective of our study was to design a specific FPQ with emphasis on fruit and vegetable consumption and dietary exposure to pyrethroids (PYR) and organophosphate (OP) insecticides and to test its reproducibility. Methods: The FPQ was designed for the purpose of this study primarily by identifying high-risk foods according to the EFSA annual reports on pesticide residues in food. In total, 99 parents/guardians of 10–12-year-old boys completed the first FPQ during May to June 2022 and again during October 2022 to January 2023. Results: For the whole questionnaire, comprising 111 questions covering presumed major sources of pesticides in a diet, the median Cohen’s weighted kappa was 0.607 (interquartile range, IQR 0.526–0.678, total range 0.275–0.864). Furthermore, similar good overall reproducibility was noted when we focused only on the presumed food sources of PYR and OP pesticides (54 questions; median kappa 0.624, IQR 0.535–0.695, total range 0.275–0.864). Best reproducibility was noted for tomatoes (fresh, in season), lettuces (generic), and pork lard. Median estimated fruit intake for 459 adolescents based on the FPQ was 262 g/day (IQR 176–376 g/day), and vegetable intake was 123 g/day (IQR 74—190 g/day). Conclusions: Due to its good reproducibility, this FPQ, which estimates PYR and OP pesticide exposure, represents a valuable tool for future epidemiological studies and public health surveillance that focus on pesticide residue exposure in specific populations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Assessing and Improving Diet Quality in Pediatric and Public Health Nutrition)
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