Food-Policing Policies Can Arrest Kids' Self-Control
 Despite
the attractiveness of such a straightforward approach,
restricting a child's access to less nutritious snack
foods does little to promote healthy eating habits,
according to a recent CNRC study.
In the study, CNRC behavioral scientist Dr. Jennifer Fisher discovered
that the tendency of young girls to over-indulge in snack foods
when not hungry increased when their parents were in the habit of
tightly controlling what their daughters ate.
"In this study, the tendency to eat in the absence of hunger
appeared to be in part a result of parental restrictions,"
said Fisher, also an assistant professor of pediatrics at Baylor
College of Medicine. "Kids, just like adults, don't like to
be told what they can't do."
For the study, Fisher monitored the eating habits of nearly 200
five-year-old girls over a two-year period to see what and how much
of several tempting snack foods they would consume right after eating
a full meal and were no longer hungry.
The study also measured parental restriction by determining the
extent to which parents typically gave their daughters access to
ice cream, chocolate candy, potato chips and the other "kid-friendly"
snack foods used in the study. Examples of restrictive parental
behavior included getting upset if their child obtained these types
of foods without asking, monitoring the child's consumption of these
foods, generally limiting the amount consumed, denying second helpings,
keeping the food out of reach, and limiting how often the food is
in the home. Children's perception of parental restriction was also
assessed.
Fisher found that, despite their reported lack of hunger, few girls
could resist the temptation to nibble on at least some of the 10
snack foods that were placed in the observation room with them following
lunch.
"Although nearly all girls snacked, we found that over the
course of the study, some girls seemed to just nibble, while others
consistently consumed a lot of food when they weren't hungry,"
she said.
Fisher also discovered that girls whose parents tended to tightly
control what their daughters ate at age 5 ate significantly more
snack-calories throughout the study than those with less controlling
parents. The study also revealed that those who tended to consume
the most snacks when not hungry were more than four times as likely
to be overweight at both 5 and 7 years of age. Consumption of snacks
during the study sessions ranged from 0 to nearly 450 calories.
"These links help us understand how children learn to feel
about food," Fisher said. "Eating is an important part
of who we are as families and as a society."
Fisher believes that parental restriction may focus children's
attention away from their own hunger and fullness cues. This is
important because adults who consciously self-restrict what and
how much they eat tend to have lower physical self-appraisal and
self-esteem.
According to Fisher, the study suggests that a less restrictive
approach that includes palatable, energy-dense foods as part of
a well-varied diet could help young girls stay in touch with their
own fullness cues and maintain a healthy view of their own eating.
However, she also stresses that this does not mean that parents
should let kids eat whatever and whenever they wish.
"Structure plays an important role in the development of children's
eating behavior," she said. "Parents should retain responsibility
for deciding what, where and when children are offered food, but
children should be allowed to decide whether and how much they will
eat."
Related professional journal articles by Dr. Fisher:
Leann L Birch and Jennifer O Fisher. Mothers' child-feeding practices
influence daughters' eating and weight. Am J Clin Nutr 2000 71:
1054-1061.
Parents' restrictive feeding practices are associated with young
girls' negative self-evaluation of eating. J Am Diet Assoc 2000;100:1341-1346.
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