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Pediatrics

Inhibitory control in otherwise healthy overweight 10-year-old children

International Journal of Obesity volume 39, pages 1230–1235 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background:

Preventing obesity is a worldwide public health priority. In vulnerable children living in obesogenic environments, with easy access to high-caloric food, alterations in inhibitory control functions might favor excessive food intake and affect energy regulation. We hypothesized that overweight/obese children would present lower inhibitory control in comparison to normal weight children.

Methods:

We measured inhibitory control functions in 93 otherwise healthy overweight/obese and 92 normal weight 10-year-old children using the Stroop test and the Go/No-Go task. Event-related potentials were recorded during the Go/No-Go task.

Results:

Overweight/obese children showed slower reaction times (1248.6 ms (95% confidence interval (CI): 1182.9–1314.3) vs 1149.0 ms (95% CI: 1083.0–1215.1)) on the Stroop test, higher reaction time variability (0.25 (95% CI: 0.22–0.27) vs 0.21 (95% CI: 0.19–0.24)) on the Go/No-Go task and decreased P300 amplitude (4.1 μV (95% CI: 3.0–5.2) vs 6.4 μV (95% CI: 5.2–7.6)) on event-related potentials compared with normal weight children.

Conclusions:

Our results indicate altered inhibitory control functions in otherwise healthy overweight/obese children, which might contribute to their excessive food consumption.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Fondecyt No. 1110513 and NIH HD33487 grants. We would like to express our gratitude to children and parents whose participation made this study possible. We also thank the technicians of the Sleep and Functional Neurobiology Laboratory of INTA, University of Chile, who contributed during the course of this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sleep and Functional Neurobiology Laboratory, Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology (INTA), University of Chile, Santiago, Chile

    S Reyes, P Peirano & C Algarin

  2. UR2NF–Neuropsychology and Functional Neuroimaging Research Unit at CRCN–Centre de Recherches en Cognition et Neurosciences and UNI, Neurosciences Institute, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium

    P Peigneux

  3. Center for Human Growth and Development and Department of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    B Lozoff

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  1. S Reyes
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Correspondence to C Algarin.

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Reyes, S., Peirano, P., Peigneux, P. et al. Inhibitory control in otherwise healthy overweight 10-year-old children. Int J Obes 39, 1230–1235 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2015.49

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