Increasing entrée portion size does not always increase children's energy intake at a meal.

Abstract

Children's energy intake has been reported to increase as a function of the portion size of foods offered to them. However, these studies have routinely used one “amorphous” entrée, macaroni and cheese, to test these effects. We investigated the effects of increasing the portion size of two entrees (one unit and one amorphous food; hotdogs and macaroni and cheese, respectively) on children's (3–6 y) energy intake at lunch. Entrées were provided in small or large portions along with fixed amounts of other foods. We measured entrée and total food intake (in g and kcal) across 5 presentations of each portion size of each entrée. A linear mixed model with repeated measures was used to test main effects for portion size and presentation and a portion*presentation interaction. Overall, the portion size of the entrée marginally influenced the amount of entrée consumed (kcal, p<.12; g, p<.01) however it did not impact total energy consumed at the meal (p<.96). When examined by type of entrée, children ate significantly more (in kcal and g) of the large size of the amorphous entrée (p<.02) but not of the unit entrée (p<.15). Increases in portion size resulted in a large increase in entrée intake (25–34%) but only a 4% increase in total energy intake at the meal. Our findings suggest that children do not always respond to increases in portion size by increasing total energy intake.(Research Support: The National Cattlemen's Beef Association)