1. Eating in the Absence of Hunger is a stable predictor of adiposity gains in middle childhood.
- Author
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Bhat YR, Rolls BJ, Wilson SJ, Rose E, Geier CF, Fuchs B, Garavan H, and Keller KL
- Abstract
Background: Eating in the Absence of Hunger (EAH) is a behavioral phenotype of pediatric obesity characterized by consumption of palatable food beyond hunger. Studies in children have identified EAH as stable over time, but findings are unclear on whether it predicts development of adiposity, particularly in middle childhood, a period of increased autonomy over food choice., Objective: We hypothesized that EAH would remain stable and be associated with increased adiposity over a ≥1-year prospective study in 7-8-year-old children without obesity. Secondary hypotheses tested whether physical activity moderated the impact of EAH on adiposity., Methods: Children (n=72, age 7.8±0.6 years; BMI%<90th), in a 7-visit longitudinal study, had EAH, adiposity, and physical activity assessed at baseline (Time 1-T1) and follow-up (Time 2-T2). EAH was determined by measuring children's intake from 9 energy-dense (>3.9 kcal/g) sweet and savory foods during a 10-minute access period following intake of a standard meal eaten to satiation. Adiposity was measured with dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), with an outcome of fat mass index (FMI; fat mass/ht in m-sq). Seven days of wrist-worn Actigraphy quantified moderate-to-vigorous-physical activity (MVPA) and sedentary time., Results: EAH had moderate stability across timepoints (ICC=0.54). ICCs were stronger for sweet (ICC=0.53) than savory (ICC=0.38) foods. Linear regression predicting 1-yr change in FMI (adjusted for income, parent education, sex, time to follow-up, T2 Tanner stage, maternal weight status, and baseline adiposity) found that both total and sweet food EAH at baseline predicted increases in adiposity (p<0.05 for both). EAH and adiposity were negatively correlated among children with high MVPA and low sedentary time., Conclusions: These findings show that EAH is a stable predictive phenotype of increases in adiposity over 1 year among youth in middle childhood, although activity related behaviors may moderate this effect. If replicated, targeting EAH as part of interventions may prevent excess adiposity gain., Clinical Trial Registry: The data was obtained from the Food and Brain study (ClinicalTrials.gov) NCT03341247., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Kathleen L. Keller reports financial support was provided by National Institutes of Health. Kathleen L. Keller reports financial support was provided by US Department of Agriculture. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. The authors have no disclaimers or conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2024 American Society for Nutrition. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2024
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