Plate Size and Children’s Appetite: Effects of Larger Dishware on Self-Served Portions and Intake.
Plate Size and Children’s Appetite: Effects of Larger Dishware on Self-Served Portions and Intake.
Pediatrics. 2013 Apr 8;
Disantis KI, Birch LL, Davey A, Serrano EL, Zhang J, Bruton Y, Fisher JO
OBJECTIVES:Dishware size is thought to influence eating behaviors, but effects on children’s self-served portion sizes and intakes have not been studied. We aimed to evaluate whether larger dishware increased children’s self-served portion sizes and intake during meals.METHODS:A within-subjects experimental design was used to test the effects of dishware size (ie, plates and bowls) on children’s self-served portion sizes and intakes in a naturalistic setting. Subjects were predominantly African American elementary school-aged children (n = 42) observed on repeated occasions during school lunch. Children served themselves an entree and side dishes using either child- or adult-size dishware, which represented a 100% increase in the surface area of plates and volume of bowls across conditions. Condition order was randomly assigned and counterbalanced across 2 first-grade classrooms. Entrées of amorphous and unit form were evaluated on separate days. Fruit and vegetable side dishes were evaluated at each meal. Fixed portions of milk and bread were provided at each meal.RESULTS:Children served more energy (mean = 90.1 kcal, SE = 29.4 kcal) when using adult-size dishware. Adult-size dishware promoted energy intake indirectly, where every additional calorie served resulted in a 0.43-kcal increase in total energy intakes at lunch (t = 7.72, P = .001).CONCLUSIONS:Children served themselves more with larger plates and bowls and consumed nearly 50% of the calories that they served. This provides new evidence that children’s self-served portion sizes are influenced by size-related facets of their eating environments, which, in turn, may influence children’s energy intake. HubMed – eating
Eating Frequency and Overweight and Obesity in Children and Adolescents: A Meta-analysis.
Pediatrics. 2013 Apr 8;
Kaisari P, Yannakoulia M, Panagiotakos DB
OBJECTIVES:To determine the effect of eating frequency on body weight status in children and adolescents.METHODS:In this meta-analysis, original observational studies published to October 2011 were selected through a literature search in the PubMed database. The reference list of the retrieved articles was also used to identify relevant articles; researchers were contacted when needed. Selected studies were published in English, and they reported on the effect of eating frequency on overweight/obesity in children and adolescents. Pooled effect sizes were calculated using a random effects model.RESULTS:Ten cross-sectional studies and 1 case-control study (21 substudies in total), comprising 18?849 participants (aged 2-19 years), were included in the analysis. Their combined effect revealed that the highest category of eating frequency, as compared with the lowest, was associated with a beneficial effect regarding body weight status in children and adolescents (odds ratio [OR] = 0.78, log OR = -0.24, 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.41 to -0.06). The observed beneficial effect remained significant in boys (OR = 0.76, log OR = -0.27, 95% CI -0.47 to -0.06), but not in girls (OR = 0.96, log OR = -0.04, 95% CI -0.40 to 0.32) (P for sex differences = 0.14).CONCLUSIONS:Higher eating frequency was associated with lower body weight status in children and adolescents, mainly in boys. Clinical trials are warranted to confirm this inverse association, evaluate its clinical applicability, and support a public health recommendation; more studies are also needed to further investigate any sex-related differences, and most importantly, the biological mechanisms. HubMed – eating
Effects of Dietary Factors on Selenium Levels of Children to Prevent Kashin-Beck Disease During a High-Prevalence Period in an Endemic Area: a Cohort Study.
Biol Trace Elem Res. 2013 Apr 9;
Ning YJ, Wang X, Ren L, Guo X
Selenium (Se) supplements have been used to control Kashin-Beck disease (KBD) for decades, but the effect of diet without Se supplements is unclear because the prevalence of KBD has decreased. This matched cohort study was undertaken to determine dietary factors affecting selenium nutrition status of children living in KBD areas and the effects of Se supplements in preventing KBD. A total of 593 children aged 5-12 years were randomly selected during the high prevalence period of KBD from 1992 to 1995. Children in one village received Se supplemented (Se+) salt and were matched with three children in 16 other villages who did not receive Se supplemented (Se-) salt. A questionnaire and determinations of occipital hair Se to reflect body Se status were obtained at baseline (April 1992), at 6 months (October 1992), and yearly each April through 1995. Hair Se content in the Se+ group was significantly higher than in the Se- group (P?HubMed – eating
Decreased consumption of sweet fluids in mu opioid receptor knockout mice: a microstructural analysis of licking behavior.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2013 Apr 9;
Ostlund SB, Kosheleff A, Maidment NT, Murphy NP
RATIONALE: Evidence suggests that the palatability of food (i.e., the hedonic impact produced by its sensory features) can promote feeding and may underlie compulsive eating, leading to obesity. Pharmacological studies implicate opioid transmission in the hedonic control of feeding, though these studies often rely on agents lacking specificity for particular opioid receptors. OBJECTIVES: Here, we investigated the role of mu opioid receptors (MORs) specifically in determining hedonic responses to palatable sweet stimuli. METHODS: In Experiment 1, licking microstructure when consuming sucrose solution (2 to 20 %) was compared in MOR knockout and wildtype mice as a function of sucrose concentration and level of food deprivation. In Experiment 2, a similar examination was conducted using the palatable but calorie-free stimulus sucralose (0.001 to 1 %), allowing study of licking behavior independent of homeostatic variables. RESULTS: In Experiment 1, MOR knockout mice exhibited several alterations in sucrose licking. Although wildtype mice exhibited a twofold increase in the burst length when food deprived, relative to the nondeprived test, this aspect of sucrose licking was generally insensitive to manipulations of food deprivation for MOR knockout mice. Furthermore, during concentration testing, their rate of sucrose licking was less than half that of wildtype mice. During sucralose testing (Experiment 2), MOR knockout mice licked at approximately half the wildtype rate, providing more direct evidence that MOR knockout mice were impaired in processing stimulus palatability. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that transmission through MORs mediates hedonic responses to palatable stimuli, and therefore likely contributes to normal and pathological eating. HubMed – eating