Emirati mothers’ perceptions and willingness to serve ultra-processed and traditional foods to young children
4 affiliations
- 1Department of Nutrition and Health, College of Medicine and Health Sciences, United Arab Emirates University
- 2Department of Cognitive Sciences, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, United Arab Emirates University
- 3Department of Psychology, American University in Dubai
- 4Department of Nursing, Hellenic Mediterranean University
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.
Related
- Conditional willingness to care for patients with Ebola virus disease: a qualitative study of risk-benefit perceptions and support needs of clinical students at a Ugandan medical school
- “They teach us how to look at the world”: student perceptions of traditional behavioral and underrepresented social-structural theoretical content in a graduate public health course
- Parental education and willingness to vaccinate children with self-paid vaccines in Hangzhou, China: a cross-sectional study
- Evidence quality assessment of traditional Chinese medicine and integrated traditional Chinese and Western medicine for acute upper respiratory infection in children: an umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses
- Prevalence, Regional Variation, and Energy Cost of Ultra-Processed Foods Marketed to Children in Türkiye
BibTeX
@article{albadi2026emirati,
title = {{Emirati mothers’ perceptions and willingness to serve ultra-processed and traditional foods to young children}},
author = {Fatema Saeed Albadi and Alyaa Mohammed Saeed Alsuwaidi and Sana Naser and Meera Omar Aljahoori and Suhail Alhatmi and Kholood Mohamed Almentheri and Ruwaya Aldhaheri and Aysha Fares Aldhaheri and Maryam Almesmari and Ayesha Salem Al Dhaheri and Rubina Sabir and Abdulmannan Fadel and Agathi Argyriadi and Alexandros Argyriadis and Hafiz Muhammad Shahbaz},
journal = {Frontiers in Public Health},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpubh.2026.1960958},
url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1960958/full},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Emirati mothers’ perceptions and willingness to serve ultra-processed and traditional foods to young children
AU - Fatema Saeed Albadi
AU - Alyaa Mohammed Saeed Alsuwaidi
AU - Sana Naser
AU - Meera Omar Aljahoori
AU - Suhail Alhatmi
AU - Kholood Mohamed Almentheri
AU - Ruwaya Aldhaheri
AU - Aysha Fares Aldhaheri
AU - Maryam Almesmari
AU - Ayesha Salem Al Dhaheri
AU - Rubina Sabir
AU - Abdulmannan Fadel
AU - Agathi Argyriadi
AU - Alexandros Argyriadis
AU - Hafiz Muhammad Shahbaz
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
JO - Frontiers in Public Health
DO - 10.3389/fpubh.2026.1960958
UR - https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2026.1960958/full
AB - 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.
SN - 2296-2565
ER -