The psychology of food is intricately linked to the physiology of nutrition. How we eat in early life is thought to dictate how we continue to consider our food choices as we age. A number of feeding patterns have been identified, and these patterns are really just ways that researchers describe the characteristics we display when eating. Two such categories are high food responsiveness and low satiety responsiveness. Studies of children have shown that heavier children may consume more food than their leaner counterparts. However, it is not clear if these factors are related as cause and effect or if the association is caused by some other variable. In addition, it is not clear if the weight of the children is likely to represent an increased amount of fat mass in later life. Further it is not exactly clear how the eating behaviours that children display relate to weight gain in later life. In this respect some evidence suggests that both high food responsiveness and low satiety responses may relate to future weight gain risk.
Some studies have investigated eating behaviours and concluded that clear behaviours are associated with increased food consumption. For example, in one study1, researchers analysed the eating behaviours of 16 month old children through evaluation by parental questionnaire, and related this to information about the frequency of food consumption and the amount of food consumed. The results of the study showed that high food responsiveness was associated with more frequent meals but was not associated with larger meal sizes. In contrast, low satiety responsiveness was associated with increased meal size but not with meal frequency. Therefore particular eating habits displayed by children may relate to the frequency and size of meals they consume and this may have implications for future weight gain. Whether these eating behaviours are learned or genetic is also not fully understood. However, tackling weight gain in adulthood may require and understanding of the eating behaviours displayed in childhood.
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