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Children's food intake following drinks sweetened with sucrose or aspartame: time course effects
L L Birch1, L McPhee, S Sullivan
1Child Development Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801.
Insights
Children
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nutrition
- Human Feeding Behavior
- Caloric Homeostasis
Background:
- Understanding how children regulate food intake is crucial for addressing childhood obesity.
- Children's sensitivity to caloric density influences their overall energy consumption.
- Sweeteners and preloads can impact subsequent food choices and intake.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate 2-5-year-old children's responsiveness to caloric density cues.
- To examine the effects of preloading caloric and non-caloric drinks on subsequent food intake.
- To determine the influence of time delay and sweetener type on compensatory eating.
Main Methods:
- Two experiments involving preloading children with fixed volumes of sweetened drinks (sucrose, aspartame, aspartame + maltodextrin) or water.
- Subsequent ad libitum consumption of various foods after a 0, 30, or 60-minute delay.
- Analysis of food intake in relation to preload caloric content, sweetener type, and time delay.
Main Results:
- Evidence of caloric compensation was observed, but no interaction with time delay.
- Aspartame significantly suppressed intake compared to water, indicating postingestive effects.
- Sweetened drinks consumed up to 1 hour prior suppressed food intake and potentially reduced dietary variety.
Conclusions:
- Children demonstrate caloric compensation, but their intake regulation is influenced by preloads.
- Artificial sweeteners like aspartame can suppress intake, though less effectively than caloric drinks.
- Preloading with sweetened beverages, a common practice, may impact children's dietary intake and variety.
Abstract:
In two experiments, 2-5-year-old children's responsiveness to caloric density cues was examined. In a preloading protocol, consumption of fixed volumes of drinks (205 ml in Experiment 1; 150 ml in Experiment 2), sweetened with sucrose, aspartame, aspartame plus low glucose maltodextrin, or a water control, was followed by ad lib consumption from among a variety of foods. Caloric drinks had about 90 kcal in Experiment 1, 65 kcal in Experiment 2. The delay interval between the preload and the ad lib consumption was 0, 30 or 60 minutes. In Experiment 1, 24 4- and 5-year-old children participated in only one delay interval, while in Experiment 2, all 20 2- and 3-year-old children were seen in all conditions. Results revealed evidence of caloric compensation, but no evidence of preload x time delay interaction. In both experiments, aspartame also produced a significant suppression of intake relative to water, primarily due to the pattern at 30 min following the preload. Across conditions, the suppression following aspartame was usually significantly less than that produced by the caloric sweet drinks, providing evidence for postingestive effects. In Experiment 1, suppression of intake was related to the children's preferences for the foods, not to macronutrient content; consumption of nonpreferred foods was most suppressed. Consumption of sweetened drinks as long as 1 hour prior to eating suppressed food intake, and this common feeding practice may also reduce dietary variety.
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