Oral Presentation ANZOS-OSSANZ-AOCO Joint Annual Scientific Meeting 2017

Oral processing behaviours are stable over time and predict prospective increases in children’s adiposity: Results from the GUSTO Cohort. (#189)

Anna Fogel 1 , Keri McCrickerd 1 , Ai Ting Goh 1 , Ciaran Gerard Forde 1
  1. Clinical Nutrition Research Centre, Singapore Institute for Clinical Sciences, A*STAR, Singapore

Faster eating rates have been associated with increased energy intake at a single meal, but the development and stability of this potentially problematic behaviour and its link to body composition remain unclear. Our study assessed the consistency of faster eating style over time and related this to changes in adiposity in children (n= 198) from the Growing Up in Singapore Towards Healthy Outcomes (GUSTO) cohort. Energy intakes were recorded during Ad libitum test meals at ages 4.5 and 6 years old, alongside a series of oral processing behaviours coded from video recordings to quantify bite-size, chews per bite, time in mouth and eating rate (g/min). These measures were correlated with skin-fold anthropometry and MRI measures of abdominal adiposity (subset n= 153). Regression analyses indicated that children who had a faster eating rate at age 4.5 and 6, took larger bites, chewed less per bite and consumed more energy at each meal. The highest intake of energy at both time points was characterised by a faster eating rate in combination with a longer meal duration. Importantly, faster eating at 4.5 predicted faster eating (B= 0.17, p= 0.016) and greater energy intake (B= 0.21, p= 0.003) at 6 years. Children consistently took larger bites and chewed less at both time points, despite different foods being consumed. Children who ate faster at 4.5 years tended to show larger increases in measures of adiposity by 6 years. Faster eaters with longer mealtimes at 4.5 years had larger increases in prospective adiposity than slower eaters with shorter mealtime, emphasising a role for early oro-processing behaviours in prospective weight gain. These data highlight that faster eating is a consistent behaviour that contributes to increased meal size and adiposity in pre-school children and may be a potential target for future intervention.