“Wrap healthy snacks with cool packaging” - A qualitative study of mothers’ portion size strategies for their children

Abstract

Offering large portions of high energy dense (HED) foods increases overall energy intake in children, a potentially important contributing factor to childhood overweight and obesity. Packaging offers a simple heuristic to encourage healthy eating for nutrient dense foods and to downsize portions of HED foods. However, it is not clear how parents use packaging for portion control, nor how packaging might be used as a solution to offset large portions. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate mothers' portion strategies and how they use packaging to facilitate portion control for children. 21 mothers of 25 children aged 1-5 years participated in semi-structured interviews to identify strategies used by mothers for portioning snack and meal items. Mothers reported feeling confident in amounts offered to their children, and were unaware of, or did not apply, recommendations for age-appropriate portions of meal items and snacks. Mothers portioned according to child appetite, needs and characteristics, not necessarily age. They reported that their child was able to determine for themselves how much to consume. However, mothers also applied restrictions to some foods. No differences in considerations and strategies were found between different ethnic groups of British and Chinese mothers. Mothers reported that packaging was an important determinant of preferences and a useful, convenient means of portion control. To promote appropriate consumption norms in children, a packaging design concept is described to aid downsizing for a highly liked HED food. Future studies should examine how creative packaging solutions influence parents' feeding practices and how this might influence dietary quality through user testing.

A Qualitative Evaluation of Social Aspects of Sugar-Rich Food and Drink Intake and Parental Strategies for Reductions

“…On such occasions, sugar-rich foods, snacks and drinks were an integral part of the ‘cultural script’ [ 41 ] and thus not easily changed or substituted by other food items or activities, as doing so would corrupt the ‘cosiness’ (‘hygge’). Studies of both ‘hygge’ and how it is created [ 42 ] and of consumption patterns in Danish families [ 15 ] describe comparable social meanings and practices around weekends and family time, where ‘hygge’ with sweet treats appears as a marker of ‘real’ family togetherness, linking particular social practices with specific foods [ 18 , 42 ].…”

“…According to data from the Danish national survey of diet and physical activity, Danish children’s intake of sugar-rich products largely exceeds recommendations [ 15 ], and sales data suggest that on average every Dane obtains 20% of their daily energy from sugar-rich foods and drinks [ 16 ]. Previous studies have documented a lack of knowledge on maximum intake limits for sugar-rich foods and drinks among parents [ 17 , 18 ]. Consequently, new guidelines on the maximum intake of sugar-rich foods and drinks were developed to diminish or even close this knowledge gap [ 16 ], along with a range of information materials [ 19 ].…”

Healthiness, naturalness and sustainability perception of adolescents toward chocolate snack bars

“…The number of 20 participants is a suitable number for explorative qualitative research and used in many previous studies (e.g. Berner-Rodorede et al, 2021;Gram et al, 2017;Jacquier et al, 2017;Moore et al, 2021;Tang et al, 2020). Selected snack bars containing chocolate and nuts were presented as a stimulus product to the adolescents and their properties for healthiness, naturalness and sustainability were discussed.…”

Using photo-elicitation to explore salient food packaging characteristics and design features to enhance portion control

“…Perception of the package is formed by integrating physical and functional elements such as recyclable, good taste, high quality, safe, and attractive (Venter et al, 2011). Researchers have investigated the role of packaging in promoting the intake of foods associated with healthy eating and those linked with overeating (Chu et al, 2021, Tang et al, 2022, Tang et al, 2020.…”