**Background:** Childhood obesity is a major public health challenge, with 29.7% of Portuguese children aged 6–8 years overweight and 11.9% obese. Dietary patterns have shifted toward processed foods high in sugars and fats and low in fiber and essential nutrients. The SmartFeeding4Kids (SF4K) program is an online self-guided intervention for parents designed to improve parental feeding practices and children's dietary intake, focusing on added sugars, fruits, vegetables, and legumes. This paper reports baseline dietary patterns of enrolled children.
**Methods:** Data were collected from July 2021 to May 2022. Parents of 2–6-year-old Portuguese children completed a 3-day 24-h food recall (theSmartKidsDiet24) using an app linked to the INSA electronic food composition database. Parents recorded only foods they were certain the child consumed. Of 89 participants who recorded at least one meal, only those with 5 main meals (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner) recorded on at least 2 days were included in the detailed dietary analysis (n = 22). Dietary intake of added sugar foods, fruits, vegetables, and legumes was analyzed for portions, energy, protein, carbohydrates, sugars, fiber, fats, calcium, potassium, sodium, vitamin B12, vitamin C, and vitamin D. Dietary Reference Values (DRVs) from EFSA were used to assess adequacy. Statistical analyses included t-tests, Mann–Whitney tests, chi-squared tests, and Spearman correlations.
**Key Results:** The sample (n = 89) was predominantly mothers (93.26%) with university degrees (60.67%). Mean child age was 53.09 ± 15.42 months. Among the 22 children with high-quality recalls (54.55% girls; mean age 54.30 ± 17.12 months), fruit had the highest daily intake (mean 1.77 ± 1.10 portions/day), followed by added sugar foods (mean 1.48 ± 0.89 portions/day), vegetables [median 1.27 (IQR 1.64) portions/day], and legumes [median 0.12 (IQR 0.39) portions/day]. The caloric contribution of monosaccharides and disaccharides from added sugar foods exceeded 10% of daily energy requirements in 81.8% of children. Fruit intake was positively correlated with vegetable intake (p = 0.008). Children's BMI-for-age Z-score was positively associated with daily vegetable intake (p = 0.007) and with energy, protein, carbohydrates, sugars, fiber, and polyunsaturated fats from vegetables. Children's age was positively correlated with energy (p = 0.029), sugars (p = 0.003), fats (p = 0.018), and saturated fats (p = 0.034) from added sugar foods. Regarding DRV achievement: 13.6% exceeded the safe and adequate intake of sodium; 77.3% did not meet potassium and fiber adequate intake (AI); 31.8% did not meet vitamin C average requirement (AR); and 100% did not meet calcium AR, vitamin B12 AI, and vitamin D AI from the evaluated food groups.
**Clinical Implications:** Portuguese preschool children in this cohort demonstrated a concerning dietary pattern: high intake of added-sugar foods, low vegetable and legume consumption, and widespread micronutrient inadequacies. The fact that over 80% exceeded the WHO free sugar recommendation (≤10% of total energy) at baseline, and that all children failed to meet calcium, vitamin B12, and vitamin D recommendations from reported foods, highlights critical nutritional gaps. These findings support the need for parent-targeted digital interventions like SF4K to improve early-life dietary patterns. Limitations include small sample size (n = 22 for detailed analysis), reliance on parent-reported data, potential underreporting of foods eaten outside parental supervision, and exclusion of major food groups (dairy, meat, fish) that are key sources of calcium, B12, and vitamin D.