Can reinforcing alternatives to food prevent weight gain in children?

摘要 食物的强化价值，或者说人们为获得特定食物而付出的努力，1是一个潜在的因素 儿童和成人体重增加和肥胖的机制。食物的强化价值是横截面的 与婴儿肥胖有关，2名儿童3和成人，4和预期与儿童体重增加有关，5 7.虽然食物强化预示体重增加，但并不是每个人都吃得多 增援会增加重量。防止体重增加的一个潜在保护因素是对 营养不良的儿童发现食物的替代品比食物更有说服力，而肥胖的儿童 发现食物比替代品更能增强营养。3儿童成长的环境在获取途径方面有所不同 以各种替代增强剂，如阅读8和乐器。9缺乏获得 对于在低收入家庭长大的儿童来说，食物强化剂的替代品可能是一个特别令人担忧的问题 社会经济地位(SES)，他们变得肥胖的风险增加。10-12我们在成年人身上表明 食物的相对强化价值在教育程度或收入水平与食物价值的关系中起中介作用 13这笔赠款的总体目标是研究食物和食物替代品的个体差异。 家庭环境中的强化是儿童体重增加的风险和保护因素。我们将研究230 6- 9岁的儿童在食物强化、父母教育和食物强化的替代方案方面存在差异， 并认真评估家居环境和休闲活动时间。具体目的是检验假说 食物增强剂和替代增强剂的独立作用，以及食物的相对平衡 增强替代增强剂，预测体重增加(特定目标1)，家庭环境与 参加、享受和获得各种休闲和体育活动的机会 与食物替代品的高度强化价值有关(具体目标2)，即家庭环境具有更大的 不健康食品的可获得性与食品的高强化价值有关(具体目标3)，即相对 强化食物的价值在父母教育程度低和罹患癌症风险增加之间起到调节作用 儿童肥胖(具体目标4)，父母相对食物强化价值预测儿童亲属 增强食品的价值(具体目标5)。

ABSTRACT The reinforcing value of food, or how hard someone will work to gain access to a specific food,1 is one potential mechanism for weight gain and obesity in children and adults. The reinforcing value of food is cross-sectionally related to obesity in infants,2 children3 and adults,4 and prospectively related to weight gain in children,5 adolescents6 and adults.7 While food reinforcement predicts weight gain, not everyone high in food reinforcement gains weight. One potential protective factor against weight gain is a strong reinforcing value for alternatives to food.4 Lean children find alternatives to food more reinforcing than food, while obese children find food more reinforcing than alternatives.3 Environments in which children grow up differ in terms of access to a variety of alternative reinforcers, such as reading8 and musical instruments.9 The lack of access to alternatives to food reinforcers may be a particular concern for children who grow up in families with low socioeconomic status (SES), who are at increased risk for becoming obese.10-12 We have shown in adults that the relative reinforcing value of food mediates the relationship between educational level or income level and BMI in adults.13 The overall goal of this grant is to study individual differences in food and alternatives to food reinforcement in the home environment as risk and protective factors for child weight gain. We will study 230 6- 9 year-old children who vary in food reinforcement, parental education and alternatives to food reinforcement, and carefully assess the home environment and leisure time activities. Specific aims are to test the hypotheses that the independent effects of food reinforcement and alternative reinforcers, and the relative balance of food reinforcement to alternative reinforcers, predicts weight gain (Specific Aim 1), that a home environment with opportunities for participation in, enjoyment of and access to a variety of leisure and physical activities is related to high reinforcing value of alternatives to food (Specific Aim 2), that a home environment with greater availability of unhealthy foods is related to high reinforcing value of food (Specific Aim 3), that the relative reinforcing value of food mediates the relationship between low parental education and increased risk of obesity in children (Specific Aim 4), and that parental relative reinforcing value of food predicts child relative reinforcing value of food (Specific Aim 5).