Department of Psychology, "Sapienza" University of Rome, 00185 Rome, Italy.
Department of Psychology, Temple University, Filadelfia, PA 19122, USA.
Nutrients. 2021 Apr 2;13(4):1174. doi: 10.3390/nu13041174.
Recently, researchers have focused their attention on the role of cognitive processes on eating habits and body weight changes. Few studies have examined the relationship between the first stages of overweight and executive functions (EFs), excluding obesity conditions. This study is aimed to detect the involvement of the EFs and their predictive role on body mass index (BMI) in a sample of healthy individuals from childhood to young adulthood with a cross-sectional design. One-hundred and sixty-six healthy students were recruited from different Italian public schools: 46 children (age range: 7-11), 50 adolescents (age range: 15-18), 70 young adults (age range: 19-30). BMI was used to evaluate body weight and different EFs tasks were used to assess the EFs domains of inhibition, updating and shifting. After adjusting BMI for age, a hierarchical multiple linear regression was carried out for each EFs task. Pearson's r correlations were reported for each of the age subgroups. Motor disinhibition was associated with greater BMI in the overall sample. Higher BMI was related to poorer set-shifting in adolescence and poorer motor inhibition in young adulthood, but higher BMI was not associated with EFs in childhood. Differences in the development of EFs over time may influence weight changes over time through different responses to food and eating behavior.
最近，研究人员关注认知过程在饮食习惯和体重变化中的作用。很少有研究检查超重的早期阶段与执行功能（EFs）之间的关系，排除肥胖情况。本研究旨在通过横断设计检测 EF 及其对健康个体从儿童期到青年期的体重指数（BMI）的预测作用。从意大利不同的公立学校招募了 166 名健康学生：46 名儿童（年龄范围：7-11 岁），50 名青少年（年龄范围：15-18 岁），70 名年轻人（年龄范围：19-30 岁）。BMI 用于评估体重，不同的 EF 任务用于评估抑制、更新和转换的 EF 领域。在为每个 EF 任务进行分层多元线性回归之前，针对每个年龄亚组，报告了 Pearson r 相关性。在整个样本中，运动抑制与更大的 BMI 相关。更高的 BMI 与青春期的转换能力较差和青年期的运动抑制能力较差相关，但与儿童期的 EF 无关。随着时间的推移，EF 的发展差异可能会通过对食物和饮食行为的不同反应来影响随时间推移的体重变化。
