An Exercise Intervention to Improve the Eating Patterns of Preadolescent Children at High Risk for Obesity

NCT03620045 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 04252017.043
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 92
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

Children in rural communities experience significant obesity-related health disparities; they are 26%-55% more likely to be obese and less likely to have health insurance and access to weight management specialists than are their urban peers. Geographic-specific disparities in obesity may be due, in part, to variations in eating behaviors. Children in rural communities describe purchasing and consuming significantly more energy-dense, low-nutrient food items relative to their urban peers. Existing behavioral strategies for improving children's EI patterns have largely been ineffective in reducing risk for excess weight gain. The primary aim of the proposed study is to test the effects of a brief, novel strategy for improving rural children's eating behaviors. Specifically, the study aims to harness the well-documented benefits of an acute bout (20 min) of moderate physical exercise on children's executive functioning, and to see if these cognitive changes lead to better self-regulation of eating. If 20 min of moderate physical exercise is associated with observed improvements in preadolescent children's eating secondary to increases in executive functioning, these data may offer explicit targets for an obesity prevention trial in rural Oregon elementary schools.

Conditions

Eating Behavior; Self-Regulation

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Energy intake

  total kcal consumed during a laboratory test meal after each of two conditions

  up to 14 days

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Executive functioning

  Assessed immediately after each of the two experimental conditions administered during two separate study visits approximately 14 days of each other

Study Arms (2)

Acute moderate physical activity

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants will walk at a moderate intensity for 20 minutes on a treadmill

Behavioral: Acute moderate physical activity

Sedentary activity

NO INTERVENTION

Participants will be permitted to read books and/or draw for 20 minutes

Interventions

Acute moderate physical activity BEHAVIORAL

For 20 minutes, participants will walk on a treadmill at a moderate intensity based on a combination of evidence-based and pre-determined parameters, including ratings of perceived exertion and heart rate

Acute moderate physical activity

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 8 Years - 10 Years
• Gender Eligibility Details: We do not confirm sex based on any biological testing; as such, we will rely on self- and parent-reported gender identity for each participating child; we have no exclusion criteria based on gender
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17)

You may qualify if:

• years (block recruited to ensure 50% female, 50% obese)
• Rural geographic location (≥ 10 miles from a city of ≥ 40,000)
• Understand English

You may not qualify if:

• BMI \< 5th percentile
• Major medical condition, current full-threshold psychiatric diagnosis, or moderate suicide risk (e.g., plan or intent)
• Current or recent use (\< 3 months) of medication known to affect body weight or energy intake
• Recent brain injuries that would be expected to affect neuropsychological functioning
• Mobility impairments that would impede their ability to walk on a treadmill
• Estimated full-scale intelligence quotient score ≤ 70
• History of pregnancy
• Significant food allergies that would prevent them from safely consuming the study's breakfast and lunch meals
• Responses on a food preference questionnaire that suggest that they do not like (i.e., rated them below 6 on a scale from 1 to 10) at least 50% of the food items offered in the lunch test meal

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Oregon: lead

Study Sites (1)

University of Oregon

Eugene, Oregon, 97401, United States

Location

Related Publications (1)

• Kelly NR, Guidinger C, Swan DM, Thivel D, Folger A, Luther GM, Hahn ME. A brief bout of moderate intensity physical activity improves preadolescent children's behavioral inhibition but does not change their energy intake. J Behav Med. 2024 Aug;47(4):692-706. doi: 10.1007/s10865-024-00495-1. Epub 2024 Apr 26.

  PMID: 38671287 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Feeding Behavior; Self-Control

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior, Animal; Behavior; Social Behavior

Study Officials

• Nichole R Kelly, PhD

  University of Oregon

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: PREVENTION
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Associate Professor

Model Details: Randomized crossover design

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 27, 2018
• First Posted: August 8, 2018
• Study Start: June 14, 2017
• Primary Completion: August 4, 2021
• Study Completion: August 4, 2021
• Last Updated: September 15, 2022

Record last verified: 2022-09

Locations

US (1)