Children’s eating habits are closely related to their health problems and the outlook for children’s nutritional statuses appears poor. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among parents of preschool children from December 2018 to January 2019. Sixteen representative kindergartens in 6 districts of Chongqing, China, were included in the study. We took 2200 samples and collected information by questionnaire and after screening, 1781 questionnaires were valid and finally included in the data analysis (n = 1781). Ordinal logistic regression analysis found that age, fathers’ education level, forced diet and perception of children’s body shape were factors associated with children’s eating behaviors (ordered logistic regression/three-level eating behavior; odds ratios p < 0.05). 80.24% of preschool children may have unhealthy eating behavior in this survey and 80.35% of parents had forced their children to eat. Eating behaviors of preschool children in Chongqing are closely related to family factors. This study provides important insight for parents and health care workers in China to improve preschool-aged children’s nutritional behaviors. Intervention programs should focus on parents with low income, low education levels, coercive dietary behaviors and deviated body shape perceptions to reduce children’s eating behavioral problems.

Introduction Behavioural problems in pre-school children are closely related to their mental health. Such problems include attention deficit, personality disorder, overdependency, poor adaptability and conduct problems. Methods From December 2018 to January 2019, we conducted a cross-sectional survey of parents of pre-schoolers. The survey covered sixteen kindergartens in six districts of Chongqing, China. A total of 2200 participants participated in the survey, and 1895 questionnaires were returned. After screening, 1496 valid questionnaires were compiled in the data analysis (n=1496). Results Analysis of the maximum likelihood estimation revealed that age, preterm birth, household income, amount of daily interaction with parents, and scolding frequency affected behavioural problems in the pre-schoolers. Behavioural problems tend to be attenuated as children grow. Preterm children had a higher probability of developing behavioural problems than did non-preterm children. Children from families with monthly household incomes between $1130–$1695 USD and $1696–$2260 USD were more prone to developing behavioural problems. Children whose parents spent less time interacting with them (39.26% of parents interacted with children less than 1 hour per day) and children who were scolded more often had greater behavioural problems (13.44% of parents often scolded their children). Discussion This study was conducted to evaluate the influence of parenting methods on pre-school children and the education provided by parents on their pre-school children’s behavioural problems to provide insights for Chinese parents and mental health professionals to improve treatment of behavioural problems.

To explore the relationship between Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and serum uric acid (SUA) levels among the Chinese adult population, and verify the mediating effect of BMI between DASH diet and SUA levels. A total of 1125 adults were investigated using a self-administered food frequency questionnaire. SUA levels were determined by uricase colorimetry. The total DASH score ranged from 9 to 72. The relationship between the DASH diet and SUA levels was examined by multiple adjusted regression analysis. Method of Bootstrap was used to test the mediation effect of BMI in the correlation of the DASH diet and SUA levels. After multivariable adjustment, there was a significant linear relationship between the DASH diet and SUA (P < 0.001). Compared with the lowest group, SUA of participants in group of highest DASH diet score decreased by 34.907 (95% CI − 52.227, − 17.588; P trend < 0.001) μmol/L. The association between the DASH diet scores and SUA levels was partly mediated by BMI (− 0.26, Bootstrap 95% CI − 0.49, − 0.07), with 10.53% of the total effect being mediated. Adopting the DASH diet might be helpful in reducing SUA level, and the effect might be partly mediated by BMI.