Mindful approaches and food parenting practices: a systematic review

Abstract

Objectives The objective of this study was to explore the influence of mindful approaches on food parenting practices among family caregivers of children and adolescents.

Method This systematic review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Seven databases and gray literature were searched to identify observational and interventional quantitative studies that included dispositional mindfulness, mindful eating, intuitive eating, and mindful (food) parenting as exposure variables and food parenting practices as outcomes among caregivers of children and adolescents aged 2 to 18 years, published before March 2024, with no restrictions on publication year, country, or language. Findings were presented using narrative synthesis, tables, and figures. The risk of bias was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute tools.

Results The 10 eligible studies suggest that dispositional mindfulness, mindful eating, intuitive eating, and food parenting practices are directly related to autonomy-supportive practices, family mealtime routines, monitoring, and greater availability of healthy foods while being inversely related to coercive practices and chaos, pressure to eat, food restriction, the use of food as a reward or for emotional control, and the availability of unhealthy foods. The main sources of bias risk included failure to identify or address confounding factors, inadequate validated tools, insufficient participant detail, and no control group in the intervention studies.

Conclusions Mindful approaches may serve as relevant strategies to promote the internalization of healthy eating behaviors in children and adolescents, fostering a transgenerational bond of positive food parenting practices. However, well-designed longitudinal studies and randomized clinical trials are needed to understand these relationships better.