SAN DIEGO—Mindless overeating is common among children and may lead to weight gain, obesity and depression in later years. Current methods to treat overeating in youth focus on therapies that restrict what kids may eat, requiring them to track their food intake and engage in intensive exercise; however, the techniques don’t work long-term on most kids, according to a study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine are working on developing two new methods to reduce overeating in children and adults. The overall aim is to improve responses to internal hunger and satiety cues and decrease physiological and psychological responses to foods in the environment.
The first treatment group, called appetite-awareness training, trains children and parents to recognize, and appropriately respond to, hunger and satiety cues. The other treatment group, called cue-exposure training, trains children and their parents to resist the food that is in front of them.
“We teach children and parents how the environment tricks us into eating foods even when we’re not hungry," the researchers said, citing examples of food triggers such as TV commercials, the abundance of easy-to-eat and high-calories snacks, and the use of food as a reward.
In the study, 36 obese 8- to 12-year olds with high levels of overeating and their parents were assigned to eight-week training, either in appetite awareness or a cue-exposure treatment. Children were provided a toolbox of coping skills to “ride out their cravings"—identifying such cravings and learning strategies to ride them out until the urges diminished (but only when they were not physically hungry). Participants also learned how to manage potential overeating situations when they might not listen to their bodies’ signals, because of the availability of foods or even their own moods.
While the appetite-awareness group focused on training the participants to regulate eating by focusing on internal cues of hunger and appetite, the cue-exposure group trained the participants to tolerate cravings to reduce overeating.
Children and parents in the appetite-awareness group brought dinner into the clinic and practiced monitoring their hunger and satiety cues throughout the meal. Children and parents in the cue-exposure group brought in their highly craved foods and “stared them down"—holding, smelling and taking small bites of the food—for up to 20 minutes while rating their cravings, after which they threw away the food.
In post-treatment surveys, 75% of the children in the appetite-awareness group and more than 50% of children in the cue-exposure group liked the program “a lot" or “loved it." A high percentage (81% and 69%, respectively) reported feeling more in control of their eating due to the program.
Researchers assessed the impact of these two eight-week treatments on body weight, overeating, binge eating and caloric intake in both the children and parents. Initial results suggest the cue-exposure approach might be very helpful in reduction of eating in the absence of hunger. Significant reduction in overeating was found in the cue-exposure group, even six months post-treatment, though there was very little long-term impact on overeating in the appetite awareness group. There was only a small effect on body weight and no effect on reported calories eaten in either group; however, both approaches resulted in decreased binge eating in children and their parents.
