Sprouts: Development of Eating Behaviors in Early Childhood

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In the U.S. and other developed countries, the obesogenic food environment is dominated by highly processed, energy-dense, palatable, accessible, affordable, and highly-marketed food products of minimal nutritional value (i.e., discretionary foods), which readily encourage intake in excess of energetic needs. Food reward sensitivity, the neurologic reward response to food stimuli, has emerged as an individual trait that may drive hedonically-motivated food intake, thereby impacting susceptibility to environmental influences on dietary intake and associated health outcomes. Critical knowledge gaps remain regarding the development of hedonically-motivated food intake in early childhood and the roles of parental food reward sensitivity, the degree of exposure to highly rewarding foods, and other modifiable family feeding practices that shape the childs food environment. Better understanding of the influences on food reward sensitivity and its impact on child diet and growth will elucidate the relative importance of individual and environmental factors on eating behaviors and related health indicators and provide critical knowledge to guide future intervention to advance the development of healthful eating habits. The overarching goal of the proposed research is to follow the PEAS (Pregnancy Eating Attributes Study) cohort from child age 3 to 5 years to investigate relationships of child eating behaviors and neuro-behavioral responses to food (e.g., eating in the absence of hunger, attentional bias to food cues, food reinforcement value, self-regulation) with maternal dietary intake and food reward-related characteristics, infant feeding practices and eating behaviors, and early life exposure to discretionary foods. Recruitment for Sprouts began in March 2019, with data collection to be completed by spring, 2024.