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The problem: Altering the variety of options presented to an individual can influence consummatory behavior. A greater variety of food choices increases food consumption of children and adults, and a greater variety of purchasing options increases consumer purchasing by adults. Despite the documented pro-behavioral effects of variety and recommendations by the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance and the United States Department of Health and Human Services for children to participate in a variety of physical activities to prevent against monotony, the basic effect of altering the variety of exercise options on the amount of exercise children perform has not yet been studied. The method: A laboratory setting was used to examine the basic effect of increasing the variety of exercise choices on the amount of children's physical activity behavior. Children (N = 20, 8-12 years) were assessed for 1-repetition-max (1RM) and reported liking of 7 pieces of resistance training equipment. Children then completed and reported liking of 30-min high-variety (HV, access to 7 pieces of equipment) and low-variety (LV, access to the most liked piece of exercise equipment) resistance training conditions at 70% 1-RM. The results: Children performed a greater number of repetitions (t(19) = 4.76, p < .001), lifted more weight (t(19) = 2.56, p < .05) and indicated greater liking (t(19) = 4.20, p < .001) in the HV than L V condition. Discussion: Greater variety of exercise choices appears to increase exercise behavior in children., Both the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance (Council for Physical Education for Children, 2003) and the United States Department of Health and Human Services (2008) physical [...]

Research has shown that animals and humans habituate on a variety of behavioral and physiological responses to repeated presentations of food cues, and habituation is related to amount of food consumed and cessation of eating. The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of experimental paradigms used to study habituation, integrate a theoretical approach to habituation to food based on memory and associative conditioning models, and review research on factors that influence habituation. Individual differences in habituation as they relate to obesity and eating disorders are reviewed, along with research on how individual differences in memory can influence habituation. Other associative conditioning approaches to ingestive behavior are reviewed, as well as how habituation provides novel approaches to preventing or treating obesity. Finally, new directions for habituation research are presented. Habituation provides a novel theoretical framework from which to understand factors that regulate ingestive behavior. Keywords: habituation, food intake, ingestive behavior, eating behavior, obesity

The transient receptor potential canonical channel 1 (TRPC1) is a ubiquitous Ca2+-permeable integral membrane protein present in most tissues, including adipose and placenta, and functionally regulates energetic homeostasis. We demonstrated that elimination of TRPC1 in a mouse model increased body adiposity and limited adipose accumulation under a high fat diet (HFD) even under conditions of exercise. Additionally, intracellular Ca2+ regulates membrane lipid content via the activation of the protein kinase C pathway, which may impact placental membrane lipid content and structure. Based upon this we investigated the effect of HFD and TRPC1 elimination on neutral lipids (triacylglycerol and cholesteryl ester), membrane lipids (phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine), and other multifunctional lipid species (unesterified cholesterol, sphingomyelins, ceramides). The concentration of unesterified cholesterol and sphingomyelin increased with gestational age (E12.5 to E 18.5.) indicating possible increases in plasma membrane fluidity. Diet-dependent increases ceramide concentration at E12.5 suggest a pro-inflammatory role for HFD in early gestation. TRPC1-dependent decreases in cholesterol ester concentration with concomitant increases in long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid -containing triacylglycerols indicate a disruption of neutral lipid homeostasis that may be tied to Ca2+ regulation. These results align with changes in lipid content observed in studies of preeclamptic human placenta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abdominal fat in adults is related to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and stroke. These conditions begin with alterations in body fat distribution during childhood and adolescence. Few studies have been conducted on hormone-adiposity interactions during critical developmental periods of childhood and adolescence. An overly sensitive hormonal system may cause obesity.