TY - JOUR
T1 - Caloric compensation in preschool children
T2 - Relationships with body mass and differences by food category
AU - Carnell, S.
AU - Benson, L.
AU - Gibson, E. L.
AU - Mais, L. A.
AU - Warkentin, S.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2017/9/1
Y1 - 2017/9/1
N2 - Maintaining a healthy weight may involve compensating for previously consumed calories at subsequent meals. To test whether heavier children demonstrated poorer caloric compensation across a range of conditions, and to explore whether compensation failure was the result of inadequate adjustment of overall intake or specific over-consumption of highly palatable, high energy-density ‘junk’ foods, we administered two compensation tests to a sample of 4–5 y olds. For Test A, preloads varied only in carbohydrate content and were organoleptically indistinguishable (200 ml orange-flavored beverage [0 kcal vs. 200 kcal]). For Test B, the preloads varied substantially in both macronutrient composition and learned gustatory cues to caloric content (200 ml water [0 kcal] vs. 200 ml strawberry milkshake [200 kcal]). Each preload was followed 30 min later by a multi-item ad-libitum meal containing junk foods (chocolate cookies, cheese-flavored crackers) and core foods (fruits and vegetables, bread rolls, protein foods). Testing took place at the children's own school under normal lunch-time conditions. Children were weighed and measured. Caloric compensation occurred in both tests, in terms of total, junk and core food intake (RMANOVA, all p < 0.01). Higher BMI z scores were associated with greater average caloric compensation (r = -0.26; p < 0.05), such that overweight/obese children showed least compensation (41%), children over the 50th centile the next least (59%), and children under the 50th centile (80%) the most. For Test A only, obese/overweight children compensated less well than normal-weight children in terms of junk food intake (RMANOVA preload-by-weight group interaction p < 0.05), with no significant effect for core foods. Our results suggest that caloric compensation is consistently poorer in heavier children, and that overweight/obese children's preferences for junk foods may overwhelm intake regulation mechanisms within meals containing those foods.
AB - Maintaining a healthy weight may involve compensating for previously consumed calories at subsequent meals. To test whether heavier children demonstrated poorer caloric compensation across a range of conditions, and to explore whether compensation failure was the result of inadequate adjustment of overall intake or specific over-consumption of highly palatable, high energy-density ‘junk’ foods, we administered two compensation tests to a sample of 4–5 y olds. For Test A, preloads varied only in carbohydrate content and were organoleptically indistinguishable (200 ml orange-flavored beverage [0 kcal vs. 200 kcal]). For Test B, the preloads varied substantially in both macronutrient composition and learned gustatory cues to caloric content (200 ml water [0 kcal] vs. 200 ml strawberry milkshake [200 kcal]). Each preload was followed 30 min later by a multi-item ad-libitum meal containing junk foods (chocolate cookies, cheese-flavored crackers) and core foods (fruits and vegetables, bread rolls, protein foods). Testing took place at the children's own school under normal lunch-time conditions. Children were weighed and measured. Caloric compensation occurred in both tests, in terms of total, junk and core food intake (RMANOVA, all p < 0.01). Higher BMI z scores were associated with greater average caloric compensation (r = -0.26; p < 0.05), such that overweight/obese children showed least compensation (41%), children over the 50th centile the next least (59%), and children under the 50th centile (80%) the most. For Test A only, obese/overweight children compensated less well than normal-weight children in terms of junk food intake (RMANOVA preload-by-weight group interaction p < 0.05), with no significant effect for core foods. Our results suggest that caloric compensation is consistently poorer in heavier children, and that overweight/obese children's preferences for junk foods may overwhelm intake regulation mechanisms within meals containing those foods.
KW - Adiposity
KW - Body weight
KW - Fatness
KW - Food choice
KW - High calorie
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U2 - 10.1016/j.appet.2017.04.018
DO - 10.1016/j.appet.2017.04.018
M3 - Article
C2 - 28432007
AN - SCOPUS:85018243343
SN - 0195-6663
VL - 116
SP - 82
EP - 89
JO - Appetite
JF - Appetite
ER -