Food reinforcement as a predictor of child dietary intake during a test meal

Food motivation, herein referred to as the relative reinforcing value of food (RRV_Food), refers to how hard an individual will work for a food. RRV_Food has been linked to the development and maintenance of overweight/obesity (OW/OB). However, there is little known on the relationships between RRV_Food, dietary intake, and weight status within children. The current study aims to assess these relationships in children ages 8-11 who are at risk for OW/OB. Exploratory sex-based differences will also be assessed. Data presented are from the first two sessions of a 7-session longitudinal study. One session consisted of the participants completing a RRV task, which measures RRV_Food, and the second session consisted of eating at a buffet-style test meal. Data suggests that participants with OW/OB may not have higher RRV_Food in comparison to participants with healthy weight (HW), which opposes previous findings. Secondarily, RRV_Food positively predicted total kcal, carbohydrate, and fat intake in the total sample and in participants with HW. While the relationship between RRV_Food and energy intake has been established, research on adults did not show similar relationships with carbohydrates and fat. This highlights a potential relationship unique to this age range that could be intervened on as OW/OB prevention. As for the sex differences, boys had higher RRV_Food, however RRV_Food positively predicted total kcal, carbohydrate, fat, and protein intake in girls only. This reflects a unique relationship not studied thus far. Future work can aim to confirm these relationships in a fully powered study, explore other measures of RRV_Food, assess natural-setting dietary intake, and explore variables that may contribute to the sex differences observed in the current study.