Social and Behavioral Research Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, 31 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
Social and Behavioral Research Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, 31 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD, 20892, USA.
Appetite. 2021 Sep 1;164:105241. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105241. Epub 2021 Apr 8.
Reward-based eating drive is associated with individual consumption, but there has been a paucity of research on the relationships between parental reward-based eating, child feeding behaviors, and child food consumption. Child feeding behaviors likely to be associated with parental reward-based eating drive include the provision of ultra-processed foods, as they are designed to be hyperpalatable and are associated with disordered food intake. The present study uses a virtual reality (VR) buffet restaurant environment to examine parents' food choice behaviors for their children and a food frequency assessment to measure the children's reported consumption over the course of a week. Results found that parental reward-based eating drive significantly predicted ultra-processed calories chosen by parents for their children in the VR Buffet, as well as the amount of ultra-processed food children ate according to the food frequency assessment. Both of these effects were significantly mediated by the healthfulness of the home food environment. This study is among the first to demonstrate associations between parental reward-based eating drive and child-focused food behavior and to elucidate a mediating effect of the home food environment on such relationships. These findings may be useful for the development of family-based interventions to improve child feeding and ultimately child health.
奖励性进食驱力与个体消费有关，但关于父母的奖励性进食驱力、儿童喂养行为和儿童食物消费之间的关系的研究却很少。可能与父母奖励性进食驱力相关的儿童喂养行为包括提供超加工食品，因为它们被设计成美味可口，并与饮食失调有关。本研究使用虚拟现实（VR）自助餐厅环境来考察父母为孩子选择食物的行为，并使用食物频率评估来衡量孩子在一周内的报告摄入量。研究结果发现，父母的奖励性进食驱力显著预测了父母在 VR 自助餐厅为孩子选择的超加工食品卡路里含量，以及根据食物频率评估孩子食用的超加工食品量。这两种影响都受到家庭食物环境健康度的显著中介。这项研究是首次证明父母奖励性进食驱力与以儿童为中心的食物行为之间的关联，并阐明家庭食物环境对这些关系的中介作用。这些发现可能有助于制定以家庭为基础的干预措施，以改善儿童喂养，最终改善儿童健康。
