Resilience to the Effects of Advertising in Children

Strong empirical evidence shows food marketing promotes excess energy intake and obesity. Yet, not all children are susceptible to its effects and this variability is poorly understood. Identifying sources of this variability is a public health priority not only because it may elucidate characteristics of children who are most susceptible, but also because it may highlight novel sources of resiliency to overconsumption. The proposed research will use state-of-the art, data-driven approaches to identify neural, cognitive and behavioral phenotypes associated with resiliency to food-cue (i.e. food advertisement) induced overeating and determine whether these phenotypes protect children from weight gain during the critical pre-adolescent period.

The investigator's central hypothesis is that children who are resistant to food-cue induced overeating will exhibit a distinct cluster of neural, behavioral, and cognitive traits that protect them from weight gain, even in the context of high-familial obesity risk. Identifying these traits is critical to the development of successful, individually tailored obesity prevention programs. This hypothesis is informed by compelling preliminary research showing that children who are less susceptible to food-cue induced eating in the laboratory show decreased neural activation in somatosensory (i.e., post-central gyrus) and reward (i.e., striatum) regions and increased activation in cognitive control regions (i.e., dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-dlPFC) following food commercial exposure.

These results provide a strong foundation for characterizing neural responses that are associated with resiliency to food-cue induced eating, but highlight major gaps in the literature that must be addressed to advance the field. This proposal will make three novel contributions to the understanding of the etiology of obesity. Using a prospective, family-risk design, the investigators will follow 100, 7-9 year-old children who have healthy weight but vary by risk for obesity (based on maternal weight status) for 1 year to characterize neural and behavioral responses to food commercials and identify common neural networks associated with resiliency to food-cue induced overconsumption. Second, the investigators will use sophisticated behavioral coding to characterize children's eating following food commercial exposure at both homeostatic (i.e., meal consumed when hungry) and non-homeostatic (i.e., eating in the absence of hunger - EAH snack buffet) events and relate individual differences in eating behavior to neural phenotypes. Finally, the investigators will follow children over 1 year to determine whether the neural and behavioral responses at baseline are protective against adiposity gains, during a critical period where children are cognizant of the purpose of advertising, but cannot fully defend against its effects.

Baseline data will be collected over 4 weekly initial visits, followed by a 5th visit one year later.

Eligibility Criteria:
Child Inclusion Criteria:

1. In order to be enrolled, children must be of good health based on parental self-report.
2. Have no learning disabilities (e.g., ADHD).
3. Have no allergies to the foods or ingredients used in the study.
4. Not be claustrophobic.
5. Not be taking any medications known to influence body weight, taste, food intake, behavior, or blood flow.
6. Be 7-9 years-old at enrollment.
7. The child must speak English.

Parent Inclusion Criteria:

1. The parent who has the most knowledge of the child's eating behavior, media access, sleep and behavior must be available to attend the visits with their child. This would be decided among the parents.
2. The biological mother must have a body mass index either between 18.5 - 25 kg/m2 (low-risk group) or greater than or equal to 30 kg/m2 (high-risk group). One parent can report on both parents' BW and height.

Exclusion Criteria:

Children would be excluded if:

1. They are not within the age requirements (\< than 7 years old or \> than 9 years-old at baseline).
2. If they are taking cold or allergy medication, or other medications known to influence cognitive function, taste, appetite, or blood flow.
3. If they don't speak English.
4. If they are colorblind
5. If they report being claustrophobic.
6. if they have a learning disability, ADD/ADHD, language delays, autism or other neurological or psychological conditions.
7. if they have a pre-existing medical condition such as type I or type II diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Cushing's syndrome, Down's syndrome, food allergies, severe lactose intolerance, Prader-Willi syndrome, HIV, cancer, renal failure, or cerebral palsy.
8. if they are allergic to foods or ingredients used in the study.
9. if they have tattoos, permanent makeup, dental ware, pacemakers, or metal implants that would preclude safe completion of the MRI.
10. if the child has had an X-ray in the month prior to Visits 1 and 6. If so, they will be scheduled at a later date.

Parent Exclusion Criteria:

1. if the biological mother has a body mass index \< 18.5 kg/m2
2. if the mother is between 25-30 kg/m2.
3. if the parent is unable to attend the study visits
4. if the family reports plans to move away from the area in the next year.