Featured Post from Aston University

Aston University research: Parents should encourage structure and independence around food to support children’s healthy eating

Jul 2, 2025

3 min

Jackie Blissett


CaptionResizeWrap TextRemove
  • Dr Katie Edwards studied the feeding practices of parents of children with ‘avid’ eating traits, which can lead to obesity
  • Focusing on health or deciding when it is time for a meal or snack helps parents to use supportive feeding practices.
  • Supportive feeding practices could include involving children in decisions about food, or sitting together for mealtimes


New research from Aston University has shone a light on the best ways for parents to encourage healthy eating in their children.


The team of academics from Aston University’s School of Psychology, led by Professor Jacqueline Blissett, with Dr Katie Edwards as the lead researcher, looked at the meal- and snack-time practices of parents of children with ‘avid’ eating behaviours. ‘Avid’ eaters, who make up around 20% of children, particularly love food, are often hungry and will eat in response to food cues in the environment and their emotions, not just when they are hungry. They are the most susceptible to obesity and therefore encouraging a healthy, balanced diet is vital.


Feeding children with avid eating behaviours can be challenging and the researchers wanted to understand how factors in everyday life, such as parent mood or eating situations, influence the feeding practices that parents use. Understanding this can help to create better support for families around meal and snack times and reduce the risk of children developing obesity.


Dr Edwards says that the research shows that when parents prioritise children’s health or decide when it is time for a meal or snack, parents are more likely to use supportive feeding practices which create structure around meal or snack times or encourage children to be independent with their food choices. For example, parents could sit and eat with their children, choose what food is available for their children, or involve children in decisions about what food to eat.


She adds that there are three main things that parents can do to help encourage healthy eating behaviour. The first is to focus on health, by providing nutritious and balanced meals. The second is to ensure a calm and positive atmosphere during eating occasions. The final recommendation is that parents should take the lead on setting meal- and snack-times, with a good structure being three meals and two snacks a day. These recommendations are linked to parents’ use of supportive feeding practices which are known to encourage children’s healthy eating.


To carry out the research, the team recruited parents of children aged 3-5 with avid eating behaviour and asked them to download an app to their smartphones. The app sent four semi-random reminders per day for a 10-day period, asking them to complete a survey with information about mood and stress levels. Every time a child had a meal or a snack, or asked for food, parents completed another survey to give information about feeding practices (including those which give children structure, or independence, around food), mealtime goals (such as prioritising healthy eating), and information about the mealtime setting (such as the atmosphere).


Previous research from this team at Aston University identified four main eating traits in children. As well as ‘avid’, the other traits, not studied here, are ‘typical’ eaters, who have no extreme behaviours, ‘avoidant’ eaters, who are extremely fussy, and ‘emotional’ eaters, who eat in response to emotions but do not necessarily enjoy food in the way that avid eaters do.


Dr Edwards was also involved in the team’s research at Aston University that showed that parents’ eating behaviour influences that of their children.


Dr Edwards said:


“Given the challenges that parents may face and the risk of childhood obesity, we will use these findings to develop feeding support for families. Encouraging parents to use feeding practices which provide structure around meal and snack times, or promote children’s independence with food, could be helpful for supporting children’s healthy eating.


Read the full paper in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-025-01768-x.

Connect with:
Jackie Blissett

Jackie Blissett

Professor of Psychology

Professor Blissett has a interest in children’s fussy eating including poor fruit and vegetable acceptance, emotional eating, and obesity.

Feeding and Eating BehaviourPsychologyChildhood Eating BehaviourFussy EatingDevelopmental Psychology

You might also like...

Check out some other posts from Aston University

2 min

Aston University’s Ian Maidment helps develop training for pharmacy staff supporting those with long COVID

The e-learning resource, Supporting people living with long COVID, was developed by the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) It is designed to help community pharmacy teams build their skills, knowledge and confidence The programme offers video and audio resources, practical consultation examples and strategies for supporting individuals. Professor Ian Maidment at Aston Pharmacy School has been involved in a project with the Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) to develop a new e-learning programme for community pharmacists, called Supporting people living with long COVID. The programme is designed to help community pharmacy teams build their skills, knowledge and confidence to support people managing the long-term effects of COVID-19. It was developed with researchers undertaking the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)-funded PHARM-LC research study: What role can community PHARMacy play in the support of people with long COVID? During the development of the e-learning resource, as well as with Professor Maidment, CPPE worked in collaboration with researchers from Keele University, the University of Kent, Midlands Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust and lechyd Cyhoeddus Cymru (Public Health Wales). The research draws on lived experience of long COVID, as well as the views of community pharmacy teams on what learning they need to better support people living with the condition. This new programme offers video and audio resources, practical consultation examples and strategies for supporting individuals through lifestyle advice, person-centred care and access to wider services. Professor Maidment said: “As an ex-community pharmacist, community pharmacy can have a key role in helping people living with long COVID. The approach is in line with the NHS 10 Year Health Plan, which aims to develop the role of community pharmacy in supporting people with long-term conditions.” Professor Carolyn Chew-Graham, professor of general practice research at Keele University, said: “Two million people in the UK are living with long COVID, a condition people are still developing, which may not be readily recognised, because routine testing for acute infection has largely stopped. For many, the pharmacy is the first place they seek advice about persisting symptoms following viral infection. The pharmacy team, therefore, has the potential to play a really important role in supporting people with long COVID. This learning programme provides evidence-based information to develop the confidence of pharmacy staff in talking to people with long COVID. Developed with people living with long COVID, the programme’s key message is to believe and empathise with people about their symptoms.” Visit www.cppe.ac.uk/programmes/l/covid-e-01 to access the e-learning programme. This project is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) under its Research for Patient Benefit (RfPB) Programme (Grant Reference Number NIHR205384).

4 min

Deaf children share insights on what researchers should study next in Aston University co-led project

Aston University’s Dr Amanda Hall co-led the study with Dr Anisa Visram from the University of Manchester Deaf children and those with experience of childhood deafness have identified their top 10 research priorities including education and family relationships The project was funded by the National Deaf Children’s Society Deaf children and people with experience of childhood deafness from across the UK have come together to highlight what matters most to children affected by deafness and hearing loss, as part of a project funded by the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS). From 2023 to 2025, a team of parents, young people and health and education professionals set out to compile a list of the ‘Top 10’ most important questions that researchers should be trying to answer about childhood deafness and hearing loss. The project was co-led by Dr Amanda Hall, a senior lecturer in audiology at Aston University, and Dr Anisa Visram from the University of Manchester in conjunction with researchers at Lancaster University. The hope is that it will ultimately lead to more research into childhood deafness, in the specific areas it’s needed most. Children highlighted the potential impact of them missing out on things happening around them when interacting with their peers as their top priority, demonstrating the importance of social development for deaf children. Family relationships and educational needs ranked as high priorities for both adults and children, coming in the top 3 for both groups. Adults ranked educational needs as number 1, highlighting the importance of supporting deaf children in schools, particularly those with additional needs. Other important areas for research included understanding what support is needed for children with mild and unilateral (on one side) deafness, the impact of language deprivation on deaf children and how deaf children can be supported to understand their deafness and become empowered to advocate for themselves as they grow up into deaf adults. Several hundred respondents contributed to the project through a series of online surveys. Children were involved through activity-based focus groups. Respondents submitted over 1,200 ideas for research questions in the initial surveys. These were summarised into a list of 59 unique questions, and a second survey was used to prioritise the questions. The top 21 questions were then taken to two final full-day workshop where participants collaborated to choose their top 10 priorities. The research team used what’s known as a James Lind Alliance (JLA) priority-setting process to ensure the robustness of the project. Participants reported feeling valued as part of the project and satisfied that their feedback is reflected in the final lists. One of the children who took part in the workshop said: “I learnt that my voice matters and I can make a difference for me and other deaf children.” Dr Hall said: “It has been a real privilege to be part of this JLA partnership, working alongside deaf young people, families of deaf children and professionals to identify our two sets of top 10 research questions. We hope this is just the beginning of more research that reflects what matters most to deaf children, their families and professionals, and of more opportunities to work together.” Dr Visram said: “This has been an incredible project to work on with an amazing, committed, and diverse stakeholder group feeding into the process at all stages. We have formed important collaborations with deaf young people, parents of deaf children, and a whole range of professionals working with deaf children. The group plan to keep working together to promote the Top 10 lists and help develop research projects to start to answer these important questions.” Juliet Viney is a parent to a deaf child and has supported the project as a parent partner. She said: “It has been an absolute privilege working as a parent partner developing our Top 10 most important research questions for childhood deafness. This project has brought together and empowered deaf children and young people, parents and professionals from across the UK; using their valuable lived experiences to provide them with a strong voice to guide researchers towards addressing what is most needed to improve deaf children's educational, health, social and emotional outcomes. I am excited to see which questions will be pursued in further research and the positive impacts these will have on the lives of deaf children!” Dr Sian Lickess, Research and Analysis Lead at the National Deaf Children’s Society, said: “We are proud to have supported this important partnership, which has brought together the voices of deaf children, their families and professionals to shape future research priorities. The resulting Top 10 lists represent an important step toward ensuring research is aligned with real-world needs and is meaningful to those most affected. We look forward to the impact this work will have on improving outcomes for deaf children.” The full list of priorities identified can be found at: www.childdeafnessresearch.co.uk. As well as the National Deaf Children’s Society, several other partners have also contributed to the project. These include the Professor Kevin Munro’s National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator award, NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, PF Charitable Trust, Research England’s QR Participatory Research Fund to Lancaster University, and UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship MR/X035999/1.

2 min

Professor Roslyn Bill selected for the inaugural cohort of the Big if True Science accelerator

Professor Roslyn Bill is the director of Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (AIME) The Big if True Science (BiTS) accelerator aims to bridge the gap between cutting-edge lab science and multi-million-dollar collaborative projects Professor Bill’s research is focused on the brain’s plumbing system and developing drugs against traumatic brain injury and cognitive decline. Professor Roslyn Bill, director of Aston Institute for Membrane Excellence (AIME), has been selected as an inaugural fellow of the new Big if True Science (BiTS) accelerator. BiTS was set up by a non-profit organisation, Renaissance Philanthropy, to support its scientist and innovator fellows in developing groundbreaking research initiatives and equip them with the tools, skills, and networks needed to design high-impact, collaborative research programmes and technical projects with multi-million-dollar budgets beyond their own laboratories. The first cohort of 12 fellows was selected after a highly competitive process. The cohort represents diverse fields including neuroscience, environmental engineering, biomedical research, and materials science. Over a 15-week period, they will transform their breakthrough concepts into fundable eight-figure R&D programmes, before pitching their ideas to funders on 10 December 2025. Professor Bill’s research focuses on the glymphatic system, the brain’s ‘plumbing’ system, which facilitates the movement of fluid and clears waste products. Water moves in and out of brain cells through tiny protein channels in the cell membrane called aquaporins. Uncontrolled water entry, for example, after a head injury, can cause catastrophic swelling and severe brain injuries of the type suffered by racing driver Michael Schumacher after a skiing accident. When the flow is impeded, for example, as we age, waste products can build up, leading to diseases like Alzheimer’s. In 2020, Professor Bill was lead author on a paper published in the prestigious journal Cell on how the flow of water through aquaporin-4 is controlled. She is now researching drugs to affect this process, which could have a huge impact on the treatment of traumatic brain injury and cognitive decline. Professor Bill said: “Every year, tens of millions of people are affected by injuries to their brains. Every three seconds, someone in the world develops dementia. There are no medicines that can fix these terrible conditions. Being an inaugural member of BiTS is a great honour, and I am delighted to be in the company of truly inspiring people. This exciting programme offers hope to patients for whom no medicines are available!”

View all posts
Powered by