In order to create a short, internationally valid scale to assess eating behaviour (EB) in young children at risk of undernutrition, we refined 15 phrases describing avidity or food refusal (avoidance). In study one, 149 parents matched phrases in English, Urdu, Cantonese, Indonesian or Greek to videos showing avidity and avoidance; 82-100% showed perfect agreement for the avidity phrases and 73-91% for the avoidant phrases. In study two, 575 parents in the UK, Cyprus and Indonesia (healthy) and in Kenya, Pakistan and Guatemala (healthy and undernourished) rated their 6-24 months old children using the same phrases. Internal consistency (Cronbach's α) was high for avidity (0.88) and moderate for avoidance (0.72). The best-performing 11 items were entered into a principal components analysis and the two scales loaded separately onto 2 factors with Eigen values > 1. The avidity score was positively associated with weight (r = 0.15 p = 0.001) and body mass index (BMI) Z scores (r = 0.16 p = 0.001). Both high and low avoidance were associated with lower weight and BMI Z scores. These scales are internationally valid, relate to nutritional status and can be used to inform causes and treatments of undernutrition worldwide.
Keywords: appetite; complementary feeding; eating behaviour; feeding problems; global nutrition/health; undernutrition.