Young Children Served Large Portions May Overeat
Giving young children meals that outsize their age
may lead to overeating -- but when left to their own
devices, kids tend to choose age-appropriate serving
sizes, new study findings show.
Researchers found that super-sizing preschoolers'
entrees generally led the children to take bigger bites
and consume more calories. But when kids were allowed
to serve themselves, they naturally selected more age-appropriate
portions.
"Given the alarming and growing problem of child
obesity, the capacity of large portions to encourage
overeating among young children is concerning,"
study author Dr.
Jennifer Orlet Fisher told Reuters Health.
"The results of the study imply that minimizing
children's exposure to excessive portions may prevent
overeating," said Fisher, of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture's Children's Nutrition Research Center
at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
One recent study found that meal portion sizes in
the home and restaurants have jumped since the late
1970s in the U.S.
In the current study, Fisher and her team studied
30 preschool-aged children.
During two series of lunches the children were served
either an age-appropriate portion of a macaroni-and-cheese
entrée or a portion twice as large.
The researchers found that, overall, the children
ate about 25 percent more of the entrée when
they were served a larger portion than when they were
served an age-appropriate amount.
Children took bigger bites when presented with the
bigger entrée and did not compensate by eating
significantly less of the other foods served with it,
Fisher and her colleagues report. The children's overall
calorie intake at lunch was 15 percent higher when served
the large entrée.
In addition, the children's bite size increased
along with increasing body mass index, a measure of
a person's weight in relation to their height.
In another part of the study the children were allowed
to serve themselves from bowls containing individual
servings of the larger portion sizes. They were told
to eat as little or as much as they wanted.
This time, the children did not overeat, the researchers
found. They instead chose smaller portions and ate less
than when they were served the larger portion size.
In light of the findings, Fisher suggested that
children be served or encouraged to select "small
'first portions' with additional helpings if (they)
are still hungry."
"Also avoid the temptation of 'super-sizing"'
when eating out, she added. "Such deals appear
not to represent a good value for health."
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