Development of an Eating Behavior Risk Score

Study Summary

This study will explore how children's eating behaviors are connected to brain activity and body fat levels. Researchers are especially interested in a behavior pattern called the PACE phenotype, which includes how much children eat when offered large portions, how quickly they eat, their appetite traits, and their ability to control eating. The goal is to better understand why some children are more likely to gain weight than others. The study will include children between the ages of 7 and 9 and will follow them for one year. Researchers will use brain scans, lab-based meal observations, and questionnaires to study how children respond to food and how their eating patterns relate to body fat at the start of the study and one year later. The study will also look at how family background, parenting, and other factors might protect some children from gaining excess weight even if they show risky eating behaviors. Results may help identify which children are most at risk for obesity and guide future strategies for prevention.

Primary Outcome

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) will be used to measure brain activation in response to images of palatable, energy-dense food portions of varying sizes. Activation will be assessed in brain regions involved in visceral interoception (e.g., insula, cerebellum) and self-regulation (e.g., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex). These neural responses will be correlated with children's PACE phenotype scores to explore neurobiological underpinnings of eating behaviors.

Interventions

• BEHAVIORAL Assessment of PACE Eating Phenotype and Related Behavioral and Neurobiological Measures