A new study found that children’s negative emotions, particularly over the weekend, can lead to unhealthy food choices.
The study sampled 195 children of diverse backgrounds in Los Angeles, who were questioned seven times a day through a phone app about their feelings and to report their food choices.
“Children are more likely to consume unhealthy foods on weekends when meals and snacks are less structured and supervised than on school days,” said Christine Hotaru Naya, MPH, Department of Population and Public Health Sciences, University of Southern California, in a media release.
“We also focused on snack choices where children often make their own decisions.”
The study found that the children experienced varying moods, predominantly three negative mood patterns during the day.
On average, they ate sweets or pastries at least once a day on 40% of the days. Chips or fries were eaten once a day for 30% of the days and sugar-sweetened drinks were consumed at least once a day on 25% of the days.
“More studies are needed for us to understand the relationship between a child’s emotions and their food choices, but this is a good start on that path to recognising how to approach food choices with a person’s mood and emotions in mind,” said Naya.
“We could improve our current interventions to be individually tailored to the environmental, social, emotional, and cognitive contexts in which unhealthy eating occurs.”
The study was published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour.
