Dietary restraint in normal weight and overweight children. A cross-sectional study

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: This study investigated the degree to which actual fatness and negative self-esteem might be linked to dietary restraint in childhood. METHOD: Subjects were 426 boys and 319 girls, aged 10.6 y ( AE 1 y). Forty-nine children were overweight ( b 30%) and 149 subjects were in the category`moderately overweight' (10 ± 30% overweight). Measures of self-esteem and dietary restraint were used in the analyses. RESULTS: Dietary restraint was observable in all weight groups and signi®cantly more in girls. Boys and girls with an existing fatness problem showed more dietary restraint. Weight status, not self-esteem, turned out to be the best predictor of dietary restraint. DISCUSSION: Because there were good reasons to expect side-effects of the observed dietary restraint in obese children in the long term, valuable alternatives like changes in the life-style and interventions that enhance body image and self-esteem were recommended.

Is Adolescent Body Weight Associated With Parental Beliefs About Overweight, Attitudes Towards Food, and the Home Environment?

“…People practicing restrained eating are characterized by frequent dieting, frequent over-eating and body dissatisfaction (Herman & Mack, 1975;Herman & Polivy, 1975). Though it is less clear whether restraint eating is a cause or a consequence of elevated body weight (Forrester-Knauss, Perren, & Alsaker, 2012;Snoek, Engels, van Strien, & Otten, 2013), there is strong evidence that restraint eating is associated with higher weight status in adults and adolescents (Braet et al, 2008;Braet & Wydhooge, 2000;Mulvihill, Davies, & Rogers, 2002;Munsch et al, 2007;Snoek, van Strien, Janssens, & Engels, 2007;Soo, Shariff, Taib, & Abu, 2008;Vissers et al, 2008) and must be considered as an unsuccessful weight management strategy. Also, research showed that children's restraint eating is similar to their parents' restraint eating (Elfhag, Tynelius, & Rasmussen, 2010;Rutters et al, 2008;Snoek, van Strien, Janssens, & Engels, 2009).…”

Eating styles, overweight and obesity in young adult twins

“…Although we confirmed the previous observations that snacking is associated with obesity in both sexes (Berteus et al, 2005), that emotional eating is positively correlated with BMI in women but not in men (Lluch et al, 2000), and that the reactivity to external food-related signals is not only characteristic of children (Lluch et al, 2000) but also of young adults, these associations seemed secondary in importance and mediated by restrictive/overeating eating styles. Indeed, several earlier studies have reported the coexistence of high dietary restraint with overweight and obesity in children, adolescents and adults (Braet and Wydhooge, 2000;Lluch et al, 2000).…”

‘I just can’t help myself’: effects of food-cue exposure in overweight and lean individuals

“…When we found a significant interaction between weight status and exposure we included each measure of restraint as a covariate (DEBQ-restraint & Revised Restraint), but only when it correlated significantly with the dependent variable. We adopted this approach because dietary restraint tends to be associated with both BMI [31][32][33] and heightened reactivity. [26][27][28][29][30] In each case the homogeneity of regression slopes assumption was met.…”

“…[22][23][24][25] However, these findings might otherwise be explained by differences in dietary restraint, [26][27][28][29][30] which is correlated with body mass index (BMI). [31][32][33] Indeed, some authors suggest that dietary restraint has a causal role in the development of heightened reactivity. 6,8 In a recent study, overweight and lean adults were exposed to a food cue (pizza) in a satiated state.…”