Do children eat less at meals when allowed to serve themselves?

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Nutrition
• Childhood Obesity Research
• Behavioral Science in Eating

Background:

• The impact of self-serving food on children's energy consumption remains unclear.
• Understanding how children's portion selection influences their intake is crucial for dietary guidance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how self-served versus plated entrée portions affect energy intake in young children.
• To identify individual child characteristics that predict self-served portion sizes and subsequent intake.

Main Methods:

• Two within-subjects experiments involved 63 children (3-5 years) consuming pasta entrée.
• Children's intake was measured when the entrée was plated or self-served.
• Predictors of self-served portions included age, sex, BMI, and responsiveness to portion size.

Main Results:

• No significant differences in entrée or meal energy intake between self-served and plated conditions were found for the overall sample or by weight status.
• Larger self-served entrée portions correlated with increased entrée and overall meal intake.
• Children who served larger portions were more likely to be overweight and highly responsive to portion size variations.

Conclusions:

• Self-serving entrée portions did not decrease energy intake compared to plated portions.
• Children's responsiveness to portion size significantly influenced their self-served quantities and consumption.
• Self-serving is not universally effective; some children require guidance for appropriate portion selection.