{
  "abstract": "Early childhood food choices are shaped by caregiver decisions, yet little is known about how Emirati mothers evaluate ultra-processed foods (UPFs) versus traditional foods for children aged 6 months to 5 years. Using a culturally adapted questionnaire, 283 mothers rated 12 foods (6 UPFs, 6 traditional foods) for perceived healthiness, willingness to serve, convenience, tastiness, processing, and cultural familiarity. Traditional foods were rated consistently higher than UPFs for perceived healthiness (3.70 vs. 1.81), willingness to serve (3.60 vs. 2.54), convenience (3.65 vs. 2.26), tastiness (3.83 vs. 3.48), and cultural familiarity (3.89 vs. 2.91), whereas UPFs were rated as more processed (3.14 vs. 2.74) (all p < 0.001). Willingness to serve was analyzed using cumulative link mixed models on 3,324 food-level observations from 277 mothers with complete covariate data. In the base model, UPF status was associated with lower willingness to serve (OR = 0.12, 95% CI: 0.04–0.39). In the fully adjusted model, this association was attenuated and was not statistically significant (OR = 1.23, 95% CI: 0.57–2.64), whereas cultural familiarity (OR = 2.35, 95% CI: 2.16–2.55), convenience (OR = 2.28, 95% CI: 2.03–2.56), tastiness (OR = 1.73, 95% CI: 1.59–1.88), and perceived healthiness (OR = 1.64, 95% CI: 1.44–1.85) were positively associated with willingness to serve. Thus, maternal willingness to serve food to young children was more strongly associated with food-specific perceptions than with food type alone, highlighting the importance of culturally familiar and practical alternatives in efforts to reduce early-life reliance on UPFs.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Department of Nutrition and Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University",
    "Department of Cognitive Sciences, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, United Arab Emirates University",
    "Department of Psychology, American University in Dubai",
    "Department of Nursing, Hellenic Mediterranean University"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 15,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Fatema Saeed Albadi"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Alyaa Mohammed Saeed Alsuwaidi"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Sana Naser"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Meera Omar Aljahoori"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Suhail Alhatmi"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Kholood Mohamed Almentheri"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ruwaya Aldhaheri"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Aysha Fares Aldhaheri"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Maryam Almesmari"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Ayesha Salem Al Dhaheri"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Rubina Sabir"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Abdulmannan Fadel"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Agathi Argyriadi"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Alexandros Argyriadis"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Hafiz Muhammad Shahbaz"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8xac62wfn50et.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.3389/fpubh.2026.1960958",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13687331",
  "id": "8xac62wfn50et",
  "issns": [
    "2296-2565"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1960958/full",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2739|Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220906979",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13687331?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13687331",
  "pmid": "42923230",
  "published": "2026-10-08",
  "publisher": "Frontiers Media SA",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8xac62wfn50et.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:22Z",
      "native_id": "10.3389/fpubh.2026.1960958",
      "source": "crossref",
      "url": "https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1960958/full"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:36Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42923230",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42923230"
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2739|Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Emirati mothers’ perceptions and willingness to serve ultra-processed and traditional foods to young children",
  "title_text": "Emirati mothers’ perceptions and willingness to serve ultra-processed and traditional foods to young children",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:20:36Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8xac62wfn50et",
  "venue": "Frontiers in Public Health",
  "versions": []
}