Screen Use While Eating and Toddler Dietary Intake in Mexican American Families

To evaluate the association between toddler screen use while eating and toddler dietary intake in Mexican American families, examining intake across multiple food groups and overall dietary quality.

Cross-sectional study with data collected via surveys and diaries.

Community-based data collection in a large metropolitan city in Colorado PARTICIPANTS: Convenience sample of Mexican American mother-toddler dyads (n = 384) recruited from safety-net clinics.

Screen use while eating was measured using 7-day screen use diaries, and dietary intake across food groups and overall dietary quality were measured using a food frequency questionnaire.

Multiple regression, adjusted for covariates (child age and sex, maternal age, education level, and acculturation level, and the presence of COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions at the time of data collection), was used to estimate the relationship between screen use while eating with toddler overall dietary quality (linear regression) and intake across multiple food groups (quantile regression). Screen use while eating, measured as the proportion of eating episodes with screens, was scaled to every 10% increase for interpretability.

Screen use while eating was not associated with overall dietary quality but was significantly associated with average daily intake (ounces) across multiple food groups, including a higher average daily intake of 100% fruit juice (ϐ = 0.21; P = 0.004), sugar-sweetened beverages (ϐ = 0.17; P = 0.001), and salty snacks (ϐ = 0.01; P = 0.005).

Using screen devices while eating is associated with higher dietary intake of low-nutrient, high-calorie foods in toddlers from Mexican American families, but not with overall dietary quality. Findings underscore the need for increased focus on the context of eating in toddlers.