Diet foods and drinks for children may inadvertently lead to
overeating and obesity, says a new report from the University
of Alberta.
A team of researchers contends that animals learn to connect
the taste of food with the amount of caloric energy it provides,
and children who consume low-calorie versions of foods that
are normally high in calories may develop distorted connections
between taste and calorie content, leading them to overeat as
they grow up.
The research will be published today in the academic journal
Obesity.
"Based on what we've learned, it is better for children to
eat healthy, well-balanced diets with sufficient calories for
their daily activities rather than low-calorie snacks or meals,"
said Dr. David Pierce, a University of Alberta sociologist and
lead author of the paper.
The researchers conducted a series of elaborate experiments
that proved substituting low-calorie versions of foods and drinks
led to overeating in a sample of young rats, including ones
that were lean and ones that were genetically obese. Although
both lean and obese rats overate during their regular meals,
the added calories have more serious health implications for
obese animals.
Adolescent rats that were also fed diet foods did not display
the same tendency to overeat. The researchers believe the older
rats did not overeat because they, unlike the younger rats,
relied on a variety of taste-related cues to correctly assess
the energy value of their food.
"The use of diet food and drinks from an early age into adulthood
may induce overeating and gradual weight gain through the taste
conditioning process that we have described," Pierce said.
Pierce added that his team's "taste conditioning process" theory
may explain "puzzling results" from other studies, such as a
recent one from researchers at the University of Massachusetts,
who found links between diet soda consumption (among children")
and a higher risk of obesity, diabetes and heart disease, but
further research is necessary with older animals using a variety
of taste-related cues.
"One thing is clear at this point," Pierce said, "our research
has shown that young animals can be made to overeat when low-calorie
foods and drinks are given to them on a daily basis, and this
subverts their bodies' energy-balance system.
"Parents and health professionals should be made aware of this
and know that the old-fashioned ways to keep children fit and
healthy—insuring they eat well-balanced meals and exercise regularly—are
the best ways. Diet foods are probably not a good idea for growing
youngsters."
