Genetic associations with consumption of palatable foods in the absence of hunger in response to food cues in children.

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate obesity-related genetic factors in relation to excess consumption and assess if food cues modify associations.

Methods: Children (9-12 years) completed a randomized crossover experiment. During two visits, children ate a preload and then snacks ad libitum while watching television, embedded with food or non-food advertisements to assess eating in the absence of hunger (EAH).

Elucidating pathways to pediatric obesity: a study evaluating obesity polygenic risk scores related to appetitive traits in children.

Background/objectives: Obesity polygenic risk scores (PRS) explain substantial variation in body mass index (BMI), yet associations between PRSs and appetitive traits in children remain unclear. To better understand pathways leading to pediatric obesity, this study aimed to assess the association of obesity PRSs and appetitive traits.

Subjects/methods: This study included 248 unrelated children aged 9-12 years.

Associations between behavioral self-regulation and external food cue responsiveness (EFCR) in preschool-age children and evidence of modification by parenting style.

Decreased behavioral regulation is hypothesized to be a risk factor for excess weight gain among children, possibly via reduced appetite-specific regulation. Little research has specifically focused on behavioral regulation and food cue responsiveness, a conditioned precursor to eating, at a young age. This study examined the association between behavioral regulation and external food cue responsiveness among preschool-age children and explored if a more structured parenting style moderated that association.

Corrigendum: Differential neural reward reactivity in response to food advertising medium in children.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.

Differential neural reward reactivity in response to food advertising medium in children.

Introduction: Food cues including food advertisements (ads) activate brain regions related to motivation and reward. These responses are known to correlate with eating behaviors and future weight gain. The objective of this study was to compare brain responses to food ads by different types of ad mediums, dynamic (video) and static (images), to better understand how medium type impacts food cue response.

Attention to food cues following media multitasking is associated with cross-sectional BMI among adolescents.

Purpose: To measure attention to food cues following a multitask or a sustained attention single task, and further, to examine the associations with current weight status and excess consumption.

Methods: Ninety-six 13-to 17-year-olds were fed a standardized meal and then had their attention to food cues measured following completion of a single sustained attention task, media multitask, or a passive viewing control task. Participants then completed an eating in the absence of hunger paradigm to measure their excess consumption.

Completing a Sustained Attention Task Is Associated With Decreased Distractibility and Increased Task Performance Among Adolescents With Low Levels of Media Multitasking.

Objective: To assess distracted attention and performance on a computer task following completion of a sustained attention and acute media multitasking task among adolescents with varying self-reported usual media multitasking.

Methods: Ninety-six 13- to 17-year-olds played the video game Tetris following completion of a Go/No-go paradigm to measure sustained attention in the presence of distractors, an acute media multitasking, or a passive viewing condition. Adolescents completed the conditions on separate visits in randomized order.

Measuring attentional bias to food cues in young children using a visual search task: An eye-tracking study.

Objective: Attentional bias to food cues may be a risk factor for childhood obesity, yet there are few paradigms to measure such biases in young children. Therefore, the present work introduces an eye-tracking visual search task to measure attentional bias in young children.

Methods: Fifty-one 3-6-year-olds played a game to find a target cartoon character among food (experimental condition) or toy (control condition) distractors.

Measurement of external food cue responsiveness in preschool-age children: Preliminary evidence for the use of the external food cue responsiveness scale.

Background: Conditioned eating in response to external food cues may contribute to obesity risk in young children.

Objectives: To develop a brief, parent-reported scale to measure external food cue responsiveness for preschool-age children.

Methods: Focus groups with parents of preschool-age children were conducted to create an initial pool of items reflecting children's behavioral responses to external food cues.

Household chaos and screen media use among preschool-aged children: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Excess screen media use is a robust predictor of childhood obesity. Understanding how household factors may affect children's screen use is needed to tailor effective intervention efforts. The preschool years are a critical time for obesity prevention, and while it is likely that greater household disorder influences preschool-aged children's screen use, data on that relationship are absent.

FTO genotype and weight status among preadolescents: Assessing the mediating effects of obesogenic appetitive traits.

Polymorphisms in the Fat Mass and Obesity Associated (FTO) gene are robustly associated with overweight and obesity among children, although the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. We tested if appetitive traits partially mediated the association between FTO genotype and increased BMI among a sample of US preadolescents. Data were from 178 unrelated 9-10 year olds who participated in an experimental study between 2013 and 2015.

Randomized Exposure to Food Advertisements and Eating in the Absence of Hunger Among Preschoolers.

Background: Preschoolers in the United States are heavily exposed to unhealthy food advertisements. Whether such exposure promotes cued eating has not been documented in this age group.

Methods: Randomized experiment among 60 children, aged 2 to 5 years, recruited in 2015-2016 from New Hampshire and Vermont.

Understanding eating in the absence of hunger among young children: a systematic review of existing studies.

Background: Eating in the Absence of Hunger (EAH), or consuming highly palatable foods when satiated, is one behavioral pathway that may lead to childhood obesity. EAH is an objective, laboratory-based measure. A more comprehensive understanding of potential determinants of EAH could inform childhood obesity programs outside of a laboratory setting.