Big Serving Means Kids Eat More, Study Says

When you're dishing up a plate of food for a preschooler, be careful how much you pile on.

A small study suggests that the bigger the serving, the more a young child will eat. Contrary to what many people believe, preschool children do not adjust how much they eat in response to how much they ate at their last meal or in the past 24 hours or how calorie-rich their meal is.

The study is published in the June issue of the journal Appetite.

"We found that the more food children are served, the more they eat, regardless of what they've eaten previously in the day, including how big their breakfast was," said researcher David Levitsky, professor of nutritional sciences and of psychology at Cornell University. "We also found that the more snacks children are offered, the greater their total daily food and calorie intake."

Levitsky and a colleague monitored the food intake of 16 preschool children, ages 4 to 6, for a week in child-care centers. Parents kept a food diary of what their children ate in the evenings and weekends.

"We found that portion size is, by far, the most important factor in predicting how much a child will eat," Levitsky said in a news release. "These findings suggest that both the onus of controlling children's weight -- both in causing overweight in children as well as in its prevention -- must rest squarely in the hands of parents and other caregivers."

Study Abstract