TY - JOUR
T1 - Food commercials do not affect energy intake in a laboratory meal but do alter brain responses to visual food cues in children
AU - Masterson, Travis D.
AU - Bermudez, Maria A.
AU - Austen, Marielle
AU - Lundquist, Ella
AU - Pearce, Alaina L.
AU - Bruce, Amanda S.
AU - Keller, Kathleen L.
N1 - Funding Information:
Standardized food images used in the fMRI task were provided by the Image Sciences Institute, UMC Utrecht, and created as part of the Full4Health project ( www.full4health.eu ), funded by the European Union Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007–2013) under grant agreement nr. 266408, and the I.Family project ( http://www.ifamilystudy.eu ), grant agreement nr. 266044 ( Charbonnier, van Meer, van der Laan, Viergever, & Smeets, 2016 ). Pictures of food shown during the fMRI scan included: low-energy dense foods (e.g., vegetables and fruit) (n = 120); high-energy dense foods (e.g., candy and ice-cream) (n = 120); and blurred image controls (n = 240). Blurred pictures were used as an implicit baseline to control for visual stimulation. Images were presented to subjects using E-Prime (Psychology Software Tools Inc., Sharpsburg, PA) by projecting images onto a screen at the head of the MRI scanner for viewing using a mirror mounted to the head coil. Pictures were each presented for 2.5 s with a 0.5 s (blank screen) inter-stimulus interval.
Funding Information:
We would like to acknowledge the support of the United States Department of Agriculture/National Institute of Food and Agriculture Childhood Obesity Prevention Program Training Grant #2011-67001-30117 for study funding and doctoral fellowship program support. We would also like to thank the Social, Life, and Engineering Sciences Imaging Center at Penn State for imaging support.
Funding Information:
We would like to acknowledge the support of the United States Department of Agriculture / National Institute of Food and Agriculture Childhood Obesity Prevention Program Training Grant # 2011-67001-30117 for study funding and doctoral fellowship program support. We would also like to thank the Social, Life, and Engineering Sciences Imaging Center at Penn State for imaging support.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2019/1/1
Y1 - 2019/1/1
N2 - Food commercials promote snack intake and alter food decision-making, yet the influence of exposure to food commercials on subsequent neural processing of food cues and intake at a meal is unclear. This study tested whether exposing children to food or toy commercials altered subsequent brain response to high- and low-energy dense food cues and influenced laboratory intake at a multi-item, ad libitum meal. Forty-one 7-9-year-old children (25 healthy weight; 16 with overweight/obesity) completed five visits as part of a within-subjects design where they consumed multi-item test-meals under three conditions: no exposure, food commercial exposure, and toy commercial exposure. On the fourth and fifth visits, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed while children viewed low- and high-energy dense food images following exposure to either food or toy commercials. Linear mixed models tested for differences in meal energy intake by commercial condition. A whole-brain analysis was conducted to compare differences in response by commercial condition and child weight status. Meal intake did not differ by commercial condition (p = 0.40). Relative to toy commercials, food commercials reduced brain response to high-energy food stimuli in cognitive control regions, including bilateral superior temporal gyri, middle temporal gyrus, and inferior frontal gyrus. Commercial condition * weight status interactions were observed in orbitofrontal cortex, fusiform gyrus, and supramarginal gyrus. Children with overweight/obesity showed increased response in these regions to high-energy stimuli following food commercials. Food commercial exposure affected children's subsequent processing of food cues by reducing engagement of the prefrontal cortex, a region implicated in cognitive control. Even though food commercial exposure did not increase intake at a meal, the effect of reduced prefrontal cortical engagement on a broader range of consumption patterns warrants investigation.
AB - Food commercials promote snack intake and alter food decision-making, yet the influence of exposure to food commercials on subsequent neural processing of food cues and intake at a meal is unclear. This study tested whether exposing children to food or toy commercials altered subsequent brain response to high- and low-energy dense food cues and influenced laboratory intake at a multi-item, ad libitum meal. Forty-one 7-9-year-old children (25 healthy weight; 16 with overweight/obesity) completed five visits as part of a within-subjects design where they consumed multi-item test-meals under three conditions: no exposure, food commercial exposure, and toy commercial exposure. On the fourth and fifth visits, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed while children viewed low- and high-energy dense food images following exposure to either food or toy commercials. Linear mixed models tested for differences in meal energy intake by commercial condition. A whole-brain analysis was conducted to compare differences in response by commercial condition and child weight status. Meal intake did not differ by commercial condition (p = 0.40). Relative to toy commercials, food commercials reduced brain response to high-energy food stimuli in cognitive control regions, including bilateral superior temporal gyri, middle temporal gyrus, and inferior frontal gyrus. Commercial condition * weight status interactions were observed in orbitofrontal cortex, fusiform gyrus, and supramarginal gyrus. Children with overweight/obesity showed increased response in these regions to high-energy stimuli following food commercials. Food commercial exposure affected children's subsequent processing of food cues by reducing engagement of the prefrontal cortex, a region implicated in cognitive control. Even though food commercial exposure did not increase intake at a meal, the effect of reduced prefrontal cortical engagement on a broader range of consumption patterns warrants investigation.
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85055020882&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.appet.2018.10.010
DO - 10.1016/j.appet.2018.10.010
M3 - Article
C2 - 30312738
AN - SCOPUS:85055020882
VL - 132
SP - 154
EP - 165
JO - Appetite
JF - Appetite
SN - 0195-6663
ER -
