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Development and application of specific questions to classify a child as food texture sensitive.

Understanding food texture sensitivity in children is important in guiding food selection. The objective of this work was to develop a short questionnaire that could be completed by parents in non-clinical settings to provide a categorization for food texture sensitivity in children. This study evaluated the distribution of children as TS (texture sensitive) or NTS (non-texture sensitive), and the predictive validity of these questions to explain rejection of specific food textures. Three sets of survey data were examined, including data from a home-use test (HUT) in children with and without Down syndrome (DS), and lingual tactile sensitivity measured by grating orientation task (GOT). From three parent-completed surveys, the use of the questionnaire yielded a similar distribution of children in the TS category (16-22%) as previously reported. TS children (4-36 months) were more likely to reject specific food textures, including chewy, hard, lumpy, and "tough meat" (p<0.05). A higher percentage of children with a diagnosis of DS were TS (36.9%). Children who were TS showed increased negative behaviours to foods and ate less than NTS children. In older children (5-12 years), TS children were fussier than NTS children (p<0.001). Lingual tactile sensitivity was not significantly different by TS/NTS categorization (p=0.458). This study demonstrated the use of these five questions specific to food texture provides a useful tool in categorizing a child as TS/NTS, with this information being useful in selecting preferred food textures. Future studies involving these TS questions should perform psychometric assessments and measures of criterion validity using other questionnaires.