Supersized portions lead to unhealthy food relationships in children
Fri. Oct 10, 2008
Insisting that children clean their plate at meal time may lead to overeating and other unhealthy relationships with food say researchers from the Center for Obesity Research and Education at Temple University.
Children assume that the quantity of food provided at meal time is the amount they should eat. When larger portions are provided, children eat more and use portion size and other environmental cues to help them decide when they have had enough.
Jennifer Fisher, Ph.D., theorizes that having large amounts of food available conveys a social expectation about portion size that condones larger self-served portions. Fisher and other researchers are exploring different avenues to determine the association between the amount of food children are served and the amount they actually eating.
"Our goal is to try to identify ways to promote healthful choices from an early age," says Fisher. "We want children to grow up with good eating habits, and without having to struggle with food issues into adulthood."
Observing children's eating behavior when confronted with differing portion sizes and even different sized eating utensils, may lead researchers to pinpoint some of the factors determining how eating patterns develop, which could help stave off unhealthy relationships with food later on in life.
SOURCE: Obesity
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