Food and activity preferences in children of lean and obese parents

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Children of obese parents have a substantially higher risk of adult obesity than children of lean parents. Adoption and twin studies have shown that this risk is largely genetic but the proximal mechanisms of the genetic risk are not known. Comparisons of energy intake or expenditure in children of obese and lean parents have produced mixed, but generally negative results. An alternative hypothesis is that the early expression of obesity risk is through food and activity preferences, which provides a basis for later weight gain. The aim of this study was therefore to compare food and activity preferences in a large sample of young children from obese and lean families using parental obesity as a marker of the obesity-risk phenotype. Because the children from the families with obese parents were not yet overweight, differences observed in the two types of families are more likely to be causes than effects of obesity. METHODS: A total of 428 children aged 4 ± 5 y, whose parents were either obeseaoverweight or normal-weightalean were selected from a population sample of families with twin births. Food and activity preferences were assessed with a combination of food intake and taste tasks, and questionnaires completed by the mother during a home visit. FINDINGS: Children from the obeseaoverweight families had a higher preference for fatty foods in a taste test, a lower liking for vegetables, and a more`overeating-type' eating style. They also had a stronger preference for sedentary activities, and spent more time in sedentary pastimes. There were no differences in speed of eating or reported frequency of intake of high-fat foods. CONCLUSION: Part of the process whereby a genetic risk of obesity is transmitted to the next generation could be through differences in diet and activity preferences, which would place susceptible individuals at risk of positive energy balance in the permissive nutritional environment of industrialised countries today. International Journal of Obesity (2001) 25, 971 ± 977

Genetic influence on appetite in children

“…For example, there is some evidence that obese individuals have greater preferences for high fat foods 35,36 and prefer sedentary to active pastimes. 37 These may also be heritable traits contributing to adiposity, which could be explored using twin or family designs. It is also important to analyse the relationships among the variety of appetitive traits that are measured in behavioural studies.…”

Dietary intake among under-, normal- and overweight 9- and 15-year-old Estonian and Swedish schoolchildren

“…This finding can be interpreted as indicating that besides genetic factors, there is space left for environmental factors, such as for example nutrition. Wardle et al described that children of overweight parents had a higher taste preference for fatty foods, a lower liking for vegetables and a more 'overeatingtype' eating style 50 . In our study, the absolute BMI of both the father and the mother was positively associated with participant's absolute BMI and with the risk of being overweight in both countries.…”

Continuity and stability of eating behaviour traits in children

“…Sampling children from obese and normal-weight parents allowed us to represent children across a range of weights and, potentially, eating behaviour characteristics. The groups were matched for geography and paternal occupation (Wardle et al, 2001a). Both groups contributed data to the present study, with results combined after testing for group differences in continuity and stability.…”

“…The Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ) is a parent-completed measure designed to assess normal variation in eating behaviour, with scales measuring a larger number of constructs, including satiety responsiveness (SR), slowness in eating (SE), food responsiveness (FR), enjoyment of food (EF), food fussiness (FF), emotional overeating (EOE) and emotional undereating (EUE; Wardle et al, 2001b). Short-term reliability is good and significant validity has been demonstrated against measured food intake (Wardle et al, 2001a;Carnell and Wardle, 2007).…”