Contents
It has long been known that a childhood spent in poverty increases the risk of obesity in adulthood, but the mechanism of this relationship was still unclear.
Psychologist Sarah Hill (Sarah Hill) from Texas Christian University (USA) decided to test the hypothesis that the deprivation experienced in childhood seems to “program” the body to change the regulation of its energy needs. Such adaptations may help children survive undernutrition by motivating them to eat whenever possible, and if such behavior persists into adulthood, even under more favorable conditions, it can lead to obesity. To test this theory, Sarah Hill and her colleagues conducted a series of studies.
Read more:
- Why are we so attracted to junk food?
In the first experiment, 31 female students participated, while the subjects thought they were participating in a consumer demand study. To ensure that the results of the study could not be influenced by extraneous factors (for example, various diseases), the scientists excluded candidates who were overweight (body mass index above 30), as well as those with food allergies and diabetes.
The students were given bowls of chocolate chip cookies and pretzels and asked to taste and rate these foods. After they submitted their scores, they were told that they could finish the remaining cookies and pretzels while they waited for the next phase of the experiment.
Then the participants of the experiment answered the questions of the questionnaire concerning their family circumstances in childhood (up to the age of 12 years). They were asked to indicate how true the following statements were for them: “As a child, my family had enough money for purchases,” “We lived in a relatively wealthy area,” “I felt that our family was better off than the families of my peers.”
Read more:
- “How to stop eating cake and love celery and chicken breast?”
After the survey, the researchers estimated how many cookies and pretzels each student ate. It turned out that among those participants in the study who, in their own words, were hungry, there was no connection between the amount eaten and family poverty in childhood. However, among those participants who said they were not hungry, those from poor families ate significantly more.
In two other experiments, participants who grew up in poverty also found that participants who grew up in poverty ate more than people who grew up in wealthy families in situations where the body does not have an urgent need for energy.
“These results suggest that people who grew up with material disadvantages may find it harder to manage their food intake and maintain an optimal weight. We were surprised that childhood conditions could have such a lasting effect. We were also surprised by the fact that these effects persist regardless of a person’s current level of material well-being,” says Sarah Hill.
Подробнее см. S. Hill et al. «Low Childhood Socioeconomic Status Promotes Eating in the Absence of Energy Need», Psychological Science, February 2016.