Mindful eating: effects of a brief induction in the choice and intake of food in children

Abstract

In the last few years, great attention has been paid to the mindful eating technique as an approach derived from mindfulness to address unhealthy eating behaviour in adults. However, there is limited information in relation to the usefulness of mindful eating interventions in children. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate whether a brief session of mindful eating could promote healthier dietary food choices in children and/or it might be an adequate strategy to reduce food intake. The experiment was conducted with children between 8 and 11 years old. Fifty children (MINDFUL EATING group) received a session of mindful eating. Fifty-one children (CONTROL group) participated in a creative workshop. Afterwards, the children were invited to an afternoon snack with different types of food. We did not find any significant differences between the two groups on the appetite, food intake, food choices and liking. However, this study shows a trend towards significance of consuming healthier food in the experimental group. Lastly, different levels of emotions were seen between groups after the workshop took place, where the CONTROL group felt more pleasant, with higher levels of calm and found themselves more independent throughout the workshop than the experimental group. In the future, mindful eating interventions in children would be recommended to be assessed in longer sessions and with a bigger sample size, in order to be able to evaluate the effects on food intake, food choice, appetite and liking.