Food for Thought: Executive Functioning Around Eating Among Children

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Child Obesity; Appetitive Behavior; Eating Behavior; Self-regulation

• Registration Number: NCT06108128
• Lead Sponsor: Temple University

Brief Summary

Scientific knowledge of the cognitive-developmental processes that serve to support children's appetite self-regulation are surprisingly limited. This investigation will provide new scientific directions for obesity prevention by elucidating cognitive-developmental influences on young children's ability to make healthy food choices and eat in moderation.

Detailed Description

Appetite self-regulation (ASR) has been described as involving children's use of eating-specific, "top-down" cognitive processes to moderate "bottom-up" biological drives to eat. Much of the research to date on ASR has focused on the role of bottom-up drives in shaping children's behavioral susceptibility to obesity. Alternatively, little is known about the cognitive-developmental processes that shape children's ability to make healthy food choices and eat in moderation during early childhood. The goal of this exploratory investigation is to produce rigorous evidence of cognitive developmental influences on healthy eating behaviors and weight status during preschool through the development of new measures of top-down ASR. Participants will be 125 preschoolers and their primary caregiver. Existing measures of executive functioning in children will be adapted to create new measures of eating-specific, top-down ASR. Associations with children's eating behaviors, body mass index z-scores, food parenting will be assessed.

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2023-10-05
• Study First Submitted: 2023-10-24
• Study First Submitted QC: 2023-10-24
• Study First Posted: 2023-10-30
• Status Verified: 2025-04
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-04-07
• Last Update Posted: 2025-04-10
• Primary Completion: 2025-12-31
• Study Completion: 2025-12-31

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 125

Inclusion Criteria

1. Child ages 4 to 6 years of age
2. Caregiver reporting primary responsibility for child feeding outside of childcare
3. Caregiver legal guardian

Exclusion Criteria

1. Caregiver <18 years of age
2. Child major food allergies
3. Child medication use, developmental disability, or medical conditions known to affect food intake and/or growth; color blindness
4. Child in foster care

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Body mass index z-score	Assessed at 1 of 2 study visits over 2 weeks	Age and sex specific z-score using CDC reference data
Food choice	Assessed at 1 of 2 study visits over 2 weeks	Children's forced-choice selection of fruits, vegetables, and water over alternatives at a meal
Eating in the absence of hunger	Assessed at 1 of 2 study visits over 2 weeks	Children's intake of palatable foods following a standard meal

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Temple University; 🇺🇸 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States