Department of Paediatric Dentistry, Dental School, The University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
Int J Paediatr Dent. 2024 Nov;34(6):771-781. doi: 10.1111/ipd.13177. Epub 2024 Mar 17.
The role of diet has a key role in dental caries. Attention to food cues can be an indicator for food choices.
This study investigates children's visual attention to images with healthy and unhealthy food cues and correlates it with that of their parents and with their dental caries status using eye-tracking technology.
A total of 30 children with and without dental caries and their 30 parents were calibrated to the eye-tracking device (Tobii Nano Pro) to ensure standardisation. Participants viewed matching images of healthy and unhealthy food cues, whereas an eye-tracking device tracked their eye movements. Children had a dental examination and were classified as children with dental caries (n = 15) and their parents (n = 15), and children without dental caries (n = 15) and their parents (n = 15).
In children with dental caries, visual attention duration was longer to healthy foods than to unhealthy foods. Likewise, parents of children with dental caries spent longer time looking at healthy foods than unhealthy foods.
Our preliminary findings indicate a significant association between children's visual attention to healthy and unhealthy food cues and their dental caries status. This underscores the need for further investigation into the correlation between children's and their parents' visual attention to food, particularly in the context of children with dental caries. Such exploration holds promise for informing targeted interventions in food choice education.
饮食在龋齿中起着关键作用。对食物线索的关注可能是食物选择的指标。
本研究使用眼动追踪技术调查儿童对健康和不健康食物线索的视觉注意力，并将其与父母的注意力以及他们的龋齿状况相关联。
共有 30 名患有和不患有龋齿的儿童及其 30 名父母接受了眼动追踪设备（Tobii Nano Pro）的校准，以确保标准化。参与者观看了健康和不健康食物线索的匹配图像，而眼动追踪设备则跟踪他们的眼球运动。对儿童进行了牙科检查，并将其分为患有龋齿的儿童（n=15）及其父母（n=15）和不患有龋齿的儿童（n=15）及其父母（n=15）。
在患有龋齿的儿童中，对健康食品的视觉注意力持续时间长于对不健康食品的注意力。同样，患有龋齿的儿童的父母也会花更多的时间看健康食品而不是不健康食品。
我们的初步研究结果表明，儿童对健康和不健康食物线索的视觉注意力与他们的龋齿状况之间存在显著关联。这突显出需要进一步调查儿童及其父母对食物的视觉注意力之间的相关性，特别是在患有龋齿的儿童的背景下。这种探索有可能为有针对性的食物选择教育干预提供信息。
