Emotional eating is learned not inherited in children, regardless of obesity risk

Since emotional overeating (EOE) and under-eating (EUE) have been implicated to determine weight gain/loss, this 2018 study sets out to discover whether these two behaviours reflect different aspects of the same underlying trait with a common aetiology,or are distinct traits with different aetiologies. Data was collected from 2054 five-year-old children. Results from the widely used children’s psychometric measure, Child Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (CEBQ), was taken from the Gemini twin birth cohort and a bivariate twin model was utilised to determine the genetic and environmental influence on variation and covariation in EUE and EOE. The data showed a lack of genetic relevance, and also the positive correlation between EUE and EOE signifies children who tend to emotionally overeat tend also to emotionally under-eat. Environmental factors such as parenting behaviours may play a part in development of both traits. [NPID: emotions, emotion regulation, overeating, undereating, weight gain, weight loss, children’s diet, children, genetic influence, genetic relevance, emotional eating]

Year: 2018

Reference: Herle, M., Fildes, A., & Llewellyn, C. H. (2018). Emotional eating is learned not inherited in children, regardless of obesity risk. Pediatric obesity, 13(10), 628–631. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijpo.12428