National Institutes of Health Update: Translating Basic Behavioral Science into New Pediatric Obesity Interventions

Abstract

Pediatric obesity, which has risen substantially over the past 30 years, increases the risk of later-life obesity as well as the risk of chronic diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes. Basic research to better understand the biological, behavioral, psychological and social factors associated with excessive weight gain in early life, and studies translating these basic research findings into novel preventive and therapeutic strategies, are essential to our ability to better prevent and treat childhood obesity. This overview describes several NIH efforts designed to stimulate basic and translational research in childhood obesity prevention and treatment and calls for further efforts in these areas. These examples demonstrate the value of research in early-phase translational pediatric obesity research and highlight some promising directions for this important area of research.

Role of gestational weight gain, gestational diabetes, breastfeeding, and hypertension in mother-to-child obesity transmission

“…3 Recently, it has been hypothesized that the obesity-related health problems in infants can be carried through adulthood and further into late adulthood. 2,4,5 Thus, the question emerges whether obesity is transmitted from generation to generation.…”

Targeting self-regulation to promote health behaviors in children

“…The more years one is obese, the greater risk for obesity-associated comorbidities such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes, or hypertension (Berenson et al, 1989; Everhart, Pettitt, Bennett, & Knowler, 1992; Nader et al, 2006). Current prevention and treatment programs focused on diet and physical activity in children and youth have limited efficacy (Czajkowski, 2016; Summerbell et al, 2009). One reason for the modest efficacy of these programs may be the limited attention to basic mechanisms of health behavior change (Onken, 2015; Onken, Carroll, Shoham, Cuthbert, & Riddle, 2014), specifically self-regulation processes that may shape whether the promoted health behaviors are adopted.…”

“…Improving self-regulation early in life may be a novel approach to obesity prevention; eating behavior provides an excellent context in which to test a self-regulation behavior change model (Czajkowski, 2016; Onken, 2015; Onken et al, 2014). We examine “obesogenic” eating behaviors that are hypothesized to promote risk for obesity, such as eating in the absence of hunger (Birch, Fisher, & Davison, 2003), (in)ability to delay gratification (Francis & Susman, 2009; Seeyave, Coleman, Appugliese, Corwyn, et al, 2009), emotional eating, and unhealthy diet.…”

Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors and Their Association with Self-Regulation in Chilean Children

“…This fact could be explained by the interesting implications of habit development in the context of multiple healthy lifestyle behaviors: (i) As habit strength increases, the set of available SR resources rises as behavior promotion becomes more effective; and (ii) if people follow a PA routine rather effortlessly, SR resources occupied by specific exercise demands become unoccupied and can be invested in other behavioral tasks, such as diet planning [ 32 ]. On the other hand, it has been suggested that some intervention programs focused on diet and PA in children and adolescents have limited effectiveness [ 33 ]. One of the reasons for this may be the limited attention paid to the basic mechanisms of behavioral change in health [ 34 ], specifically the SR processes that may determine if the promoted health behaviors are implemented.…”