Daily exposure to either a high- or low-energy-dense snack food reduces its reinforcing value in adolescents.

To examine the impact of daily exposure to a low-energy-dense (LED) or a high-energy-dense (HED) snack food on its reinforcing value (RRV) in adolescents with healthy weight, overweight, or obesity. A parallel-group, randomized trial was used to assess RRV of LED or HED snack food at baseline and again after exposure to that snack food daily for 2 weeks in 77 adolescents, aged 13 to 17 years. Information on eating-related subject characteristics was also collected at baseline. After 2 weeks of daily exposure, the RRV of the snack foods was significantly reduced in all participants, regardless of energy density or participant weight status. Among individuals who were high in dietary restraint only, those randomized to LED food found their snack food less reinforcing at baseline than those who were randomized to HED food. Baseline eating-related variables also differed as a function of weight status. Daily exposure to snack food in adolescents reduces the RRV of that food regardless of snack food energy density or weight status of the adolescent. This finding differs from adults, suggesting that increases in RRV of HED food after repeated exposure may develop after adolescence.

Temple JL ，Van der Kloet E ，Atkins AM ，Crandall AK ，Ziegler AM ... -  《-》

The relationships between eating disorder pathology and relative reinforcing value of food, delay discounting, and related constructs in adolescents.

Food is a primary reinforcer that motivates behavior in the absence of learning or conditioning. Both the relative reinforcing value (RRV) of food and delay discounting are associated with weight status. While dietary restraint and disinhibition have been shown to influence the RRV of food, limited work has examined the relationships between eating disorder pathology and RRV of food and delay discounting. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine how eating disorder pathology predicts RRV of food, proportion of food consumed, delay discounting, reinforcement pathology (i.e., high motivation to eat and high delay discounting), and sensitization of high energy dense food (HED; i.e., increases in RRV of HED food after daily repeated exposure). Participants were 167 adolescents ages 12-14 without obesity participating in a longitudinal study examining predictors of weight change who completed a series of laboratory assessments assessing the RRV of food of HED food, delay discounting, reinforcement pathology, sensitization of HED food, and a questionnaire assessing eating disorder pathology. Eating disorder pathology was not related to the RRV of food or delay discounting, but did predict reinforcement pathology and the sensitization of HED food. When explored by weight status, these relationships were only observed for those with overweight. There were no other significant relationships for either adolescents with normal weight or overweight. Given that weight status appeared to moderate some of the relationships between eating disorder pathology and reinforcement-related constructs, future work should examine how reinforcement pathology and eating disorder pathology are related to changes in weight status over time.

Balantekin KN ，Ziegler AM ，Crandall AK ，Temple JL ... -  《-》

Effects of daily snack food intake on food reinforcement depend on body mass index and energy density.

Clark EN ，Dewey AM ，Temple JL 《-》

Cookie or fruit? Relative reinforcing value of snack foods among preschoolers with overweight/obesity compared to healthy weight.

The reinforcing value of food is an important determinant of food intake. Research has yet to examine the relative reinforcing value (RRV) of snack foods in young children with overweight and obesity (OW/OB). The current study compared the RRV of high-energy dense foods (cookies) to low-energy dense foods (fruits) between preschoolers with OW/OB and healthy weight (HW). RRV of cookies and fruits in preschoolers with OW/OB (n = 30; Mage = 4.4 ± 0.84; 60% male) and HW (n = 30; Mage = 4.5 ± 0.85; 70% male) was assessed with a developmentally-tailored computer program which used a progressive fixed ratio reward schedule. The results showed that the RRV of cookies was significantly higher for preschoolers with OW/OB compared to HW while the RRV of fruits was significantly higher for preschoolers with HW compared to OW/OB. These results suggest that cookies are more reinforcing for preschoolers with OW/OB and less reinforcing for preschoolers with HW. Finding ways to reduce the reinforcing value of high-energy dense snack foods and identify alternatives that are as reinforcing for preschoolers is a challenge for weight control treatments.

McCullough MB ，Guilkey H ，Stark L 《-》

Relative reinforcing value of energy-dense snack foods in overweight and obese adults.

Goldfield GS ，Lumb AB ，Colapinto CK 《CANADIAN JOURNAL OF DIETETIC PRACTICE AND RESEARCH》