NCT06534541 · Trustees of Dartmouth College
Genetic Risk, Parental Feeding Practices, and Appetitive Traits in Early Life
What this study is about
The preschool years (2-5 years of age) is a critical timeframe to shape the lifetime risk of obesity. While the causes of obesity are complex, appetitive traits related to overeating, such as high food approach and low food avoidance, are robustly associated with a greater BMI among children.
View original scientific description
The preschool years (2-5 years of age) is a critical timeframe to shape the lifetime risk of obesity. While the causes of obesity are complex, appetitive traits related to overeating, such as high food approach and low food avoidance, are robustly associated with a greater BMI among children. Some children are genetically pre-disposed to expressing obesogenic appetitive traits, and those traits may mediate a genetic risk for obesity. Separately, parental feeding practices are emerging as an important, yet modifiable, influence on children's obesity risk. Coercive control feeding practices, such as strictly limiting a child's intake of highly palatable foods (restriction) and using food to control children's negative emotions (emotional feeding), are believed to be detrimental for young children because they impede self-regulatory skills around eating and may increase the saliency of highly palatable foods. The goal for this project is to disentangle the inter-relationships between coercive control feeding practices, children's obesogenic appetitive traits, and children's dietary intake across the preschool years to understand how coercive control feeding practices ultimately impact children's adiposity gain over time. Importantly, the investigators aim to understand how those effects differ based on children's underlying genetic risk for obesity. The investigators hypothesize that parents will respond to children's obesogenic appetitive traits by exhibiting more coercive control feeding practices (restriction, emotional feeding), which in turn, will promote future increase in obesogenic appetitive traits and overconsumption, leading to excess adiposity gain among children. Importantly, the investigators hypothesize children with a high genetic risk for obesity will be most susceptible to the negative effects of coercive control feeding practices because food is highly salient for them. The investigators will test the hypotheses among a cohort of children aged 2.5 years old using a longitudinal study design with repeated assessments every 6 months until children are 5 years old. If successful, study findings may be leveraged to develop tailored strategies to help parents support healthy eating behaviors among their young children that consider the heterogeneity in obesogenic appetitive traits among young children due to genetic risk factors.
Interventions
BEHAVIORAL
Attentional bias to food cues
Measurement of the amount of attention given to food cues
Primary outcome measures
Coercive Parental Food Practices
Time frame: Measured every 6 months from baseline until 2.5 years after baseline.
Coercive Parental Food Practices will be assessed using the Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) and Parental Feeding Style Questionnaire (PFSQ). The CFQ restriction subscale, with scores for each of 8 items ranging from 1 to 5 (never to always practice the behavior), will be averaged for a single final Restriction score. The 3 items of the emotional feeding domain from the PFSQ, ranging from 1 to 5 (never to always practice the behavior) will be averaged for a single final Emotional Feeding score.
Appetitive Traits
Time frame: Measured every 6 months from baseline until 2.5 years after baseline.
Child appetitive traits will be assessed via parent report using the validated Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire (CEBQ). The CEBQ includes subscales to measure food approach and food avoidance traits. Final scores for each subscale is computed as the average across subscale items and range from 1 to 5 (never to always express that trait).
Eating in the Absence of Hunger.
Time frame: Measured every 6 months from baseline until 2.5 years after baseline.
Eating in the Absence of Hunger. Eating in the absence of hunger will be calculated using established methods (Gilbert-Diamond et al., IJO 2017; Fisher \& Birch., AM J of Clin Nutr 2002). The pre- and post-weights of each snack items will be used to calculate the number of kCals a child consumed. Increased kCal consumption is evidence of increased eating in the absence of hunger.
Adiposity
Time frame: Measured every 6 months from baseline until 2.5 years after baseline.
Adiposity in children will be operationalized as the age- and sex-adjusted BMI z-score. Child height and weight at each assessment will be measured in-person and be used to calculate age and sex-specific BMI z-scores based on WHO child growth charts. If the child is lost to follow up and we cannot obtain in-person measures, we will abstract height and weight from the child's medical records if they consented to that data collection during the baseline visit.
Who can participate
This study lists these criteria on ClinicalTrials.gov. A study coordinator reviews eligibility during screening — this page does not determine whether you qualify.
Inclusion criteria
- parent must be ≥18 years old, have primary custody of their child for ≥75% of the month, comprehend verbal and written English and not plan to move out of Vermont or New Hampshire during the study timeframe.
- Children must be ≥2.25 and ≤2.99 years old at first visit and have normal or corrected-to-normal vision to enable eye tracking.
Exclusion criteria
- Children with any relevant food allergies or dietary restrictions, taking medication or with a medical condition that affects appetite or attention, or with a relative enrolled in the study will be excluded.
Where
- Hanover, New Hampshire
Collaborators
Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), Dartmouth College
Related conditions & keywords
Frequently asked questions
What is a clinical trial?
A clinical trial is a research study that tests new medical treatments, drugs, devices, or procedures to determine their safety and effectiveness. Trials are carefully designed and monitored to protect participants while advancing medical knowledge.
Is it safe to participate?
Clinical trials follow strict safety guidelines and ethical standards. Trials must be reviewed and approved, and participants are closely monitored by medical professionals throughout the study. You can withdraw at any time if you choose.
Will I be compensated?
Many clinical trials offer compensation for your time, travel expenses, and inconvenience. The specific compensation varies by study and will be discussed during the screening process. All study-related medical care is typically provided at no cost to participants.
Will I receive a placebo instead of treatment?
When effective treatment exists, participants typically receive either the standard treatment plus the study intervention, or the standard treatment plus placebo. You would not be denied effective care. Placebos are primarily used when no proven treatment is available, or in addition to standard care. Your trial consent form will clearly explain what treatments you may receive.
Can I leave a trial if I change my mind?
Absolutely. Participation in clinical trials is completely voluntary. You have the right to withdraw from the study at any time, for any reason, without penalty or loss of benefits to which you are otherwise entitled.
How long does a clinical trial last?
Trial duration varies widely depending on the study design and purpose. Some trials last just a few weeks, while others may continue for months or years. The study coordinator will provide specific timeline information during your screening call.
Data: ClinicalTrials.gov · synced Mar 26, 2025 · Source of record for eligibility and locations