Eating behavior and body composition across childhood: a prospective cohort study

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough many cross-sectional studies reported that children with overweight or obesity show more food approaching and less food avoidant eating behaviors, there is a lack of replication in longitudinal studies. Therefore, the question remains whether healthcare professionals should target eating behaviors in childhood obesity interventions and prevention. We aimed to examine the longitudinal and possible bi-directional associations between eating behavior and body composition across childhood.MethodsData was included from 3331 children participating in the Generation R Study. At 4 and 10 years, mothers reported on the Child Eating Behavior Questionnaire including the subscales Food Responsiveness, Enjoyment of Food, Emotional Overeating and Satiety Responsiveness, and children’s BMI was measured. Body composition, consisting of Fat Mass Index and Fat Free Mass Index was measured at 6 and 10 years with Dual-energy-X-ray-Absorptiometry scans.ResultsCross-lagged models including both directions of the BMI – eating behavior association showed that a higher BMI at the age of 4 years predicted more food responsiveness and enjoyment of food and less satiety responsiveness at 10 years (e.g. satiety responsiveness:β = − 0.10, 95% CI = − 0.14, − 0.07), but no associations were found in the opposite direction. For emotional overeating, however, a bi-directional association was found with BMI predicting more emotional eating and vice versa. Multivariable linear regression analyses showed that associations were stronger for Fat Mass Index than for Fat Free Mass Index.ConclusionsResults showed that a higher BMI, and particularly higher fat mass, at pre-school age predicted more food approaching and less food avoidant eating behaviors at the age of 10 years, rather than the hypothesized reverse direction. This suggests that increased adiposity in early childhood might upregulate appetite and related eating behaviors.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12966-018-0725-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Effect of a responsive parenting intervention on child emotional overeating is mediated by reduced maternal use of food to soothe: The INSIGHT RCT

“…In the same cohort, Derks et al 4 showed that emotional overeating was both a predictor and consequence of higher weight status from 4 to 10 years, yet these factors were not cross‐sectionally associated at 4 years. Associations between emotional overeating and weight may be age‐dependent, emerging with children's increasing autonomy and access to foods 4 or adiposity rebound 14 . This may explain our non‐significant association between emotional overeating and weight status in younger children.…”

“…Emotional and behavioral problems in 3 year old Dutch children predicted increasing trajectories of emotional overeating from the ages of 4 to 10 years 36 . In the same cohort, Derks et al 4 showed that emotional overeating was both a predictor and consequence of higher weight status from 4 to 10 years, yet these factors were not cross‐sectionally associated at 4 years. Associations between emotional overeating and weight may be age‐dependent, emerging with children's increasing autonomy and access to foods 4 or adiposity rebound 14 .…”

“…Eating in response to negative emotions—“emotional overeating” 1 —develops early in life 2 and is linked to poor diets 3 and higher weight status 4 . Emotional overeating may reflect deficits in emotion regulation 5 and disrupted appetite self‐regulation 6 .…”

Colombian retrospective study of the association between breastfeeding duration and eating behaviors

“…accrual method) for future studies about this topic in order to improve the quality of the data and the reliability of analysis (World Health Organization, 2011). Third, the sample was no probabilistic and relatively smaller and less homogenous than the samples used in research studies conducted in other countries such as Netherlands (Derks et al, 2018), United Kingdom (Brown & Lee, 2015) and even in Hispanic nations (Falcão et al, 1991;Reyes et al, 2014;World Health Organization, 2012). This methodological issue may lead to inconsistent results and may limit the generalization of the results.…”

“…Eating behaviors such as food responsiveness and satiety responsiveness are associated with weight status (French et al, 2012). In fact, a predictive study conducted in the Netherlands concluded that children who have higher BMI tend to show more food responsiveness and less satiety responsiveness (Derks et al, 2018). In this study, satiety responsiveness is defined as the child's ability to recognize and adjust their food intake considering their physiological cues and their internal perception of satiety during and after the act of eating (Birch et al, 2001;Brown & Lee, 2015;Llewellyn et al, 2008;Obregón et al, 2014;Sinopolou et al, 2015).…”