Taste of Fat and Obesity: Different Hypotheses and Our Point of View.

Obesity results from a temporary or prolonged positive energy balance due to an alteration in the homeostatic feedback of energy balance. Food, with its discriminative and hedonic qualities, is a key element of reward-based energy intake. An alteration in the brain reward system for highly palatable energy-rich foods, comprised of fat and carbohydrates, could be one of the main factors involved in the development of obesity by increasing the attractiveness and consumption of fat-rich foods.

Parental practices perceived by children using a French version of the Kids' Child Feeding Questionnaire.

About 18% of 6-11-year-old French children are overweight, of whom 3.3% are obese. Parental feeding practices, especially restriction and pressure-to-eat, seem to promote overeating in children.

Food choices at lunch during the third year of life: increase in energy intake but decrease in variety.

Aim: Modelling the evolution between the ages of 2 and 3 y of the energy intake and the variety of free food choices at lunch time in relation to children's and context variables.

Methods: One-year follow-up from 2 to 3 y old. In a nursery canteen, food choices at lunch were recorded by trained assistants who monitored portion size.

Food choices at lunch during the third year of life: high selection of animal and starchy foods but avoidance of vegetables.

Aim: The objective was to show patterns of food selection by 2- to 3-y-old children for a wide variety of foods in a self-service cafeteria and to assess the effect of individual variables (gender, BMI, mode of feeding after birth and rank in sibship).

Methods: In a nursery self-service canteen, food choices at lunch made by children (n=418, 24-36 mo; 109 observations per child on average) were recorded by trained assistants who monitored portion size. An offer of eight dishes (animal products, starchy foods, combination dishes, vegetables and dairy products), excluding dessert-type foods, was proposed.

A prospective study of food variety seeking in childhood, adolescence and early adult life.

This prospective study of food variety seeking among children was conducted between 1982 and 1999, with a follow-up in 2001-2002. Two- to three-year-old children were given a free choice of lunch foods in a nursery canteen. Their food choices were recorded and used to calculate early variety seeking scores, globally and by food group (vegetables, animal products, dairy products, starchy foods and combined dishes).