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Updated: Jun 29, 2025
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Assessment of Child Anthropometry in a Large Epidemiologic Study
Published on: February 2, 2017
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Neurocognitive factors predicting BMI changes from adolescence to young adulthood
Sussanne Reyes1, Patricio Peirano1, Sheila Gahagan2
1Laboratory of Sleep and Functional Neurobiology, Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology, University of Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.)
|March 26, 2024
Summary
Adolescent inhibitory control performance predicts future weight gain, particularly in those with overweight or obesity. Poorer performance on cognitive tasks in youth is linked to increased Body Mass Index (BMI) gain later in life.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Developmental Psychology
- Public Health
Background:
- Childhood and adolescent obesity are significant public health concerns with long-term health implications.
- Understanding predictors of weight gain is crucial for developing effective prevention strategies.
- Inhibitory control, a key executive function, may play a role in regulating eating behaviors and weight management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the prospective relationship between inhibitory task performance in adolescence and weight gain in young adulthood.
- To examine whether this association differs based on Body Mass Index (BMI) categories during adolescence.
Main Methods:
- 318 adolescents completed the anti-saccade task assessing accuracy and reaction time under different incentive conditions.
- 530 adolescents completed the Stroop test assessing accuracy and reaction time for control and incongruent trials.
- Changes in BMI z-score (∆BMI z-score) from adolescence to young adulthood were calculated for all participants.
Main Results:
- Adolescent anti-saccade task accuracy was prospectively related to ∆BMI z-score (β = -0.002, p < 0.05).
- Inhibitory performance (neutral and loss accuracies) was associated with ∆BMI z-score in overweight and obese adolescents.
- Adolescent BMI z-score interacted with Stroop test reaction times, predicting ∆BMI z-score, particularly in the overweight group.
Conclusions:
- Findings support the hypothesis that cognitive vulnerability, specifically related to inhibitory control, can predict BMI gain from adolescence to young adulthood.
- This suggests that executive function deficits may represent a risk factor for developing obesity.
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