BARBOSA, M. M. B.; http://lattes.cnpq.br/7189662699337697; BARBOSA, Maria Myrele Braz.
Abstract:
Food Selectivity is characterized by food refusal, inappetence, and disinterest in food, and is a
common behavior that occurs during childhood and leads to a diet with low dietary diversity.
This behavior can last for years, generating negative consequences. Therefore, the main
objective of this study was to investigate in the scientific literature, through an integrative
review, the repercussions of food selectivity in early childhood and furthermore, to score the
risk factors in the development of food selectivity and analyze the consequences of food
selectivity in the formation of eating habits and nutritional status. The articles were selected in
March 2023 by searching the scientific literature through the following databases: Pubmed,
Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde (BVS), and Periodicos CAPES, using the descriptors: "Infant food
selectivity" and "Food selectivity and nutritional status," and 8 papers were selected after
applying the exclusion and inclusion criteria. As results, the scientific literature shows how
common food selectivity is in childhood, so that the aspects that are associated with the
emergence of this behavior have been elucidated in recent years. In the results found in the
literature it can be observed that food selectivity is more present when maternal concern is
evidenced in children at three years of age, so that selective children consumed less energy and
micronutrients and had lower weight for age than non-selective children. Discarded foods such
as meat, eggs, and vegetables showed negative associations with growth. Thus, we conclude
that future observational and exploratory studies should be conducted on the consequences of
food selectivity in order to deepen the knowledge of the literature on the subject, since the
results of research conducted with selective children are still scarce, in order to understand what
food selectivity is in children and what its repercussions are in the lives of children.