An observational study in Dietary Behaviors, Child Growth and Development and Dental Health, sponsored by University of Leeds. Recruiting at 6 sites in United Kingdom. Open to participants aged 6 Months to 4 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-13.
Sponsored by University of Leeds · Observational
What are the study aims? To understand more about eating habits and age-appropriate food/drink portion sizes of children aged 6 months-5 years old, and how this affects their growth and dental health.
Why is this research important? Healthy diets in early years are important for growth and development. However, clear guidance for parents on what and how much children should eat is missing due to lack of up-to-date information.
What will the investigators do? Information will be collected at two time points. At baseline, parents/guardians of children aged 6 months-4 years from Leeds, Doncaster and East London will complete questionnaires about their child's sociodemographic information and food intake. They will be asked to record what their child eats for three separate one-day periods using an online system called 'myfood24'. Parents will also attend one in-person session for measuring their child's length/height, weight, and waist circumference.
At follow-up one year later, parents/guardians will complete surveys again, with another in-person session to look at growth and assess dental health.
What do the investigators expect to achieve and what happens next? They want to understand how growth and dental health are influenced by nutrient intakes, dietary patterns, and portion sizes for key food groups. They will also identify how much of different foods children should be eating, and whether commercial foods and sweet drinks are relevant.
They will explore which dietary factors can support healthier children; and how low intakes of key foods or vitamins/minerals in vulnerable groups could be redressed. The study will provide unique information, allowing for development of recommendations for parents and policy-makers on age-appropriate portions, on achieving good nutrition in UK children and within special dietary groups, and on dietary considerations in caring for children's teeth.
Research question
The investigators will answer questions posed by the recent Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition (SACN) report:
Background In the UK, little contemporary data exists on diet in young children but worrying trends in preschool overweight and dental health are reported. Current young child diets do not meet dietary recommendations and evidence-driven age-appropriate portion size recommendations are missing. Further research into the impact of plant-based diets, the use of commercial foods, and toddler milks is also recommended by SACN.
Aims and Objectives To provide new evidence on diet in children aged 6 months - 5 years, linked to optimum growth and dental health. Quantifying age-appropriate portion sizes for different foods and drinks.
Methods 1,890 parents of young children (6 months - 4 years) will be recruited through a combination of community outreach and hospital-based recruitment. This will include participants from the Born and Bred in (BaBi) Network birth cohorts in Leeds, Doncaster, and East London, as well as from the Generation Study. Recruitment will include approximately equal distribution in each year bracket, 20% non-white, 20% from deprived locations, and 15% vegetarian/vegan/non-dairy diet. Protocols are in place to ensure recruitment targets are met. Protocols, consent forms, and questionnaires have been co-designed with our Parent Advisory Group.
Baseline data will be collected using i) online survey, ii) fieldworker-measured height/length, weight, abdominal circumference, iii) 3 x 24h measures of diet spanning several months, and may possibly include iv) saliva collection in a subsample (if funding is obtained). Follow-up data collected after 12 months will repeat baseline measures and additionally include a dental assessment.
Cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis will explore how growth and dental health are influenced by nutrient intakes, diet pattern, and food portion sizes. Age/gender appropriate portion sizes for key food groups will be characterised with linear mixed-effects modelling for specific foods/food groups in relation to the child's position on the growth chart centiles.
Anticipated Impact and Dissemination Knowledge of associations between food and nutrient intakes and growth/dental health and of suboptimal intakes in vegan/vegetarian/dairy-free or vulnerable groups will enable evidence-based guidelines on age-appropriate portion sizes and optimal diet composition.
Guideline promotion to key stakeholders and visual feedback to participants will support intake of age-appropriate portions and healthier diets. Ultimately resulting in healthier children, with better dental health. Guidelines will also highlight social inequalities, indicating specific actions to redress imbalances
1,573 studies on the registry are indexed under Behavior; 313 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 1,890 is above the median of 235 across 341 observational studies indexed under Behavior.
Browse Behavior studies →University of Leeds is the lead sponsor of 206 studies on the registry; 25 are open to participants now.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Children aged between 6 months and 5 years living in Leeds, Doncaster and East London.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Assessment of dietary intake, patterns, and food/drink portion sizes in infants and young children, including consumption of commercial foods, formula milks, fruit juices, and free sugars, and comparison of different dietary patterns (e.g., vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free diets). Dietary data are collected at baseline and at 12-month follow-up.
Also known as: Food and drink portion sizes, Nutrient intake (macro- and micronutrients, free sugars, sweeteners), Commercial foods, Fruit juices
Weight-for-height/length Z scores
Weight (kg) and length or height (cm) are combined to this indicator. A standardized measure of body weight relative to height or length and sex. Following international reccomendations, length is used for children \<2 years and height for those \>=2 years. Scores typically range from -5 to +5 Z scores, with higher scores indicating greater weight relative to height/length.
Time frame: Baseline (2026) and follow-up 12 months later
Dental caries
Prevalence following the National Dental Epidemiology Programme methodology, including a visual-only examination by trained and calibrated dental examiners, using the dentinal cavitation (d₃mft) as diagnostic threshold.
Time frame: Follow-up only (2027)
Dental health
Presence of plaque, sepsis and enamel defects associated with dentinal cavitation.
Time frame: Follow-up only (2027)
Length/Height-for-Age Z-score
Length or height (cm) relative to age are used for this indicator. Length/height-for-age calculated using UK WHO growth standards and expressed as a Z-score (range -6 to +6). Higher Z-scores indicate greater attained length/height relative to age. Following international standards, if the child is \<2years indicator will use length, and if \>=2 years height.
Time frame: Baseline (2026) and 12-month follow up
Weight-for-Age Z-score
Weight (kg) in relation to age are used for this indicator. Weight-for-age calculated using UK WHO growth standards and expressed as a Z-score. Values within the range of -6 and +5 Z scores. Higher scores indicate greater body weight relative to age.
Time frame: Baseline (2026) and 12-month follow up
Body Mass Index for-Age Z-score
Body mass index (BMI) calculated as weight (kg)/height or length (m²), standardized for age using UK WHO growth standards and expressed as a Z-score. Values range between -5 and + 5 Z scores. Higher scores indicate higher BMI relative to age.
Time frame: Baseline (2026) and 12 month follow-up
Waist circumference
Waist circumference at the navel level measured using standard anthropometric procedures. Unit of measure are cm, no predetermined minimum or maximum values. Higher values indicate larger waist circumference.
Time frame: Baseline (2026) and 12 month follow-up
PDFs hosted by the registry, ClinicalTrials.gov.
Plan to share: Undecided — Where appropriate, de-identified datasets may be shared with external collaborators in response to reasonable, ethically approved data sharing requests. In such cases, formal data sharing agreements will be required.
Started Jan 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Sep 2027, 20 months after the start.
Of 113 non-industry observational studies under Behavior, half reached primary completion within 16 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 6 and three quarters within 57. This study's planned 20 months is above that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 119 studies reached it within 17 months; a quarter within 6 and three quarters within 53.
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