Both increases and decreases in energy density lead to sustained changes in preschool children's energy intake over 5 days.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objective

To investigate preschool children's ability to self-regulate their energy intake, we assessed their response to increases or decreases in dietary energy density (ED) over 5 consecutive days, a period likely long enough for compensatory behavior.

Methods

Using a crossover design, over 3 periods we served the same 5 daily menus to 49 children aged 3-5 y in their childcare centers. During each 5-day period, 3 main dishes and 1 snack per day were systematically varied in ED, from baseline ED to either higher ED (increased by 20%) or lower ED (decreased by 20%). All of the served items were weighed to determine individual intakes.

Results

Modifying the ED of 4 dishes per day had a significant and sustained effect on preschool children's daily energ

SUBMITTER: Smethers AD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6475467 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature