Delay Discounting and Household Food Choices

描述(申请人提供)：不健康的饮食摄入和肥胖在美国心脏病、糖尿病、中风和癌症的新病例中占了相当大的比例，但影响从环境中选择不健康、促进肥胖的食物的行为因素尚不清楚。延迟满足的能力已被证明是实验室和自然主义环境中食物摄入量的重要预测因素，但尚不清楚这种特征是否或如何影响不同环境下的现实世界食物选择。这项拟议的研究测试了一种基于延迟满足能力的食物选择行为模型。将使用高度创新的方法来评估121名成年人的家庭食品选择的营养含量，这些成年人是家庭食品的主要购买者。研究人员将在反复家庭评估访问期间记录家庭食品购买情况，研究人员将使用经过验证的审计工具记录家庭环境中可用的食品。延迟满足感的能力将使用二元选择任务来衡量，该任务将奖励的相对主观价值量化为时间对其的函数 送货。具体目标1测试那些不太能推迟满足的人是否会购买不太健康的家庭食品，这反映在总体饮食质量的单一综合指数中。分析还将探索延迟满足能力和食品购买的健康程度之间的联系是否因不同的食物来源而异，因为超市、小型杂货店和便利店可供购买的食物有很大不同。《特定目标2》考察了那些不能推迟满足的人是否倾向于创造促进肥胖的家庭食物环境，这反映在家庭中存在的高卡路里食物的数量上。具体目标3解决了延迟满足能力和对外出准备食物的依赖之间的关系，预测延迟满足能力较低的人将从快餐、外卖/送货和全方位服务餐厅购买更大比例的总卡路里。支持延迟满足能力影响食物选择的行为模型将促进对现代环境中心脏代谢性疾病易感性的科学理解，并提出新的饮食干预策略。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Unhealthy dietary intake and obesity account for a substantial proportion of new cases of heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and cancer in the U.S., but the behavioral factors that influence the selection of unhealthy, obesity-promoting foods from the environment are unknown. The ability to delay gratification has been shown to be an important predictor of food intake in laboratory and naturalistic settings, but it is unknown whether or how this trait may influence real-world food choices in different contexts. The proposed study tests a behavioral model of food choice based on the ability to delay gratification. Highly innovative methods will be used to assess the nutrient content of household food choices among 121 adults who are the primary household food shoppers. Household food purchases will be documented by research staff during repeated home assessment visits, and the foods available in the home environment will be documented by researchers using a validated auditing instrument. Ability to delay gratification will be measured using a binary choice task that quantifies the relative subjective value of rewards as a function of time to their delivery. Specific Aim 1 tests whether individuals who are less able to delay gratification make less healthful household food purchases, reflected in a single summary index of overall diet quality. Analyses will also explore whether the association between the ability to delay gratification and the healthfulness of food purchases varies across different food sources, as supermarkets, small grocery stores, and convenience stores substantially differ in the foods available for purchase. Specific Aim 2 examines whether individuals who are less able to delay gratification tend to create obesity-promoting home food environments, reflected in the number of high-calorie foods present in the home. Specific Aim 3 addresses the relationship between the ability to delay gratification and reliance on foods prepared away-from-home, with the prediction that individuals who are less able to delay gratification will purchase a larger percentage of total calories from fast food, take-out/delivery, and full-service restaurants. Support for a behavioral model in which the ability to delay gratification influences food choice would advance the scientific understanding of vulnerability to cardiometabolic diseases in the modern environment and suggest new dietary intervention strategies.