Decision-Making and the Relationship to Food Intake in Kids (DMK)

Understanding Decision-Making and the Relationship to Food Intake in Children 7 to 11 Years Old

The purpose of this 18-month project is to investigate how decision-making influences food choice and consumption in children ages 7 to 11 years old. Although several studies suggest that the ability to make good decisions relates to eating behaviors, no studies have looked at how food reward influences the decision-making process to impact actual food intake. This proposal will answer these questions and bridge this gap in knowledge, which could lead to the development of more effective interventions for childhood obesity. To accomplish this, the investigators have assembled a diverse team with expertise in food intake, nutrition, and decision sciences. First, the investigators will establish if there are differences in decision-making between children varying in weight status. Second, the investigators will determine if performance on behavioral decision-making tasks relates to food consumption in the laboratory. Third, the investigators will examine response functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response to various rewards (i.e. food and money) and determine if this is influenced by child weight status. Fourth, the investigators will examine differences in fMRI BOLD at rest in decision-making regions are correlated with food intake and weight status. Eighty-two children will participate in our study. The long-term goal of this project is to investigate if there are differences in brain regions corresponding to these behaviors in overweight children and if these differences relate to eating behaviors in this population. Children will undergo fMRI while playing a reward task as well as consume meals in our laboratory. Decision-making will also be assessed by having children complete various behavioral measurements of reward and inhibitory control.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Pediatric Obesity

• Study Type: Observational
• Enrollment (Actual): 142

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • Pennsylvania
    • University Park, Pennsylvania, United States, 16802
      • The Pennsylvania State University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 7 years to 11 years (Child)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

• Sampling Method: Probability Sample

Study Population

Children aged 7-11 years old.

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Right-handed
• English as native language
• Reading at/above grade level
• Not Claustrophobic
• Generally Healthy

Exclusion Criteria:

• Left-handedness
• Metal in or on body that cannot be removed
• Claustrophobia
• Medication usage that may alter brain activity or blood flow
• Medical disorder that may impact comfort of safety in MRI scanner
• Food Allergies
• Dietary Restrictions
• Learning Disabilities
• Psychiatric Disorders

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response to various reward types (food, money, no reward).	Regions of interest BOLD analysis of an fMRI card-guessing task for various reward types	Collected at fMRI scan at week 4
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response at rest (resting-state fMRI)	Regions of interest BOLD analysis of resting-state fMRI to examine differences in brain regions of interest at rest	Collected at fMRI scan at week 4
Behavioral inhibitory control task	Measured by performance on a go/nogo task	Collected at either week 1-3 (randomized)
Behavioral reward inhibitory control task	Measured by performance on a go/nogo task with a reward incentive	Collected after the behavioral inhibitory control task (same visit), which is either week 1-3 (randomized)
Behavioral risk-taking and reward task	Measured by performance on the hungry donkey task	Collected at either week 1-3 (randomized)
Behavioral dietary self-control assessment	Measured by performance on a dietary self-control task	Collected at either week 1-3 (randomized)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Energy intake at baseline	Measured at an objective laboratory test-meal (kcal and grams)	Collected at either week 1-3 (randomized)
Energy intake at a buffet meal	Measured at an objective laboratory test-meal (kcal and grams)	Collected at either week 1-3 (randomized)
Energy intake after a meal preload	Measured at an objective laboratory test-meal (kcal and grams)	Collected at either week 1-3 (randomized) following the baseline meal
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response to various reward types (food, money, no reward).	Whole brain BOLD analysis of an fMRI card-guessing task for various reward types	Collected at week 4
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response at baseline	Whole brain BOLD analysis of an fMRI card-guessing task for various reward types	Collected at week 4

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Height	Height in cm measured by stadiometer	Collected at week 1
Body fat percentage	Assessed by bioelectrical impedance analysis scale	Collected at week 1
Appetitive traits	Parent-reported questionnaire of habitual eating styles in children	Collected at week 1
Liking of foods	Ratings of how much the child likes each food in the meal on a visual analog scale	Collected after each meal at multiple time points during weeks 1-4
Fullness feelings	Ratings of how full the child feels measured on a child-friendly visual analog scale	Collected at multiple time points during weeks 1-4
Pubertal Development	Child report of pubertal status questionnaire	Collected at week 1
Weight	Weight in kg measured by a standard digital scale	Collected at week 1
Body mass index	Calculated from height, age, sex	Collected at week 1
BMI percentile	Calculated from height, weight, age and sex - according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) standards	Collected at week 1
BMI z-score	Calculated from height, weight, age and sex - according to CDC standards	Collected at week 1
Fat mass index	Calculated from height, weight, age, sex	Collected at week 1
Fat-free mass index	Calculated from height, weight, age, sex	Collected at week 1
Parental feeding strategies	Parent-reported questionnaire of feeding practices	Collected at week 1
Family demographics	Parent-report questionnaire	Collected at week 1
Loss of control eating	Loss of control when eating is frequently reported in middle childhood. Loss of control when eating was assessed via interview-style questionnaire to determine pre-clinical binge-like eating behaviors that may influence the primary outcome of energy intake at the 4 conditions of test-meals.	Collected at week 4
Inhibitory control and reward sensitivity questionnaires	Parent and child report of inhibitory control and reward sensitivity on a questionnaire	Collected on either week 1-3 (randomized)
Age	Age of participant	Collected at the week 1
Sex	sex of participant	collected at week 1
Parent height	height in cm of parent measured by a stadiometer	collected at week 1
Parent weight	weight in kg of parent measured by a standard digital scale	collected at week 1
parent body fat	measured by bioelectrical impedance	collected at week 1
Puberty Assessment Parental Report	Parent report of pubertal status questionnaire	Collected at week 1

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Penn State University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Shana Adise, B.S., The Pennsylvania State University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Adise S, White CN, Roberts NJ, Geier CF, Keller KL. Children's inhibitory control abilities in the presence of rewards are related to weight status and eating in the absence of hunger. Appetite. 2021 Dec 1;167:105610. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105610. Epub 2021 Jul 26.
• Adise S, Geier CF, Roberts NJ, White CN, Keller KL. Is brain response to food rewards related to overeating? A test of the reward surfeit model of overeating in children. Appetite. 2018 Sep 1;128:167-179. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2018.06.014. Epub 2018 Jun 8.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 1, 2015
• Primary Completion (Actual): October 1, 2016
• Study Completion (Actual): December 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: June 29, 2016
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 3, 2016
• First Posted (Estimate): August 4, 2016

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): January 11, 2021
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: January 7, 2021
• Last Verified: January 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Overnutrition; Nutrition Disorders; Overweight; Body Weight; Obesity; Pediatric Obesity
• Other Study ID Numbers: DecisionMakingEatingKids01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO