According to researchers from Columbia University, children can be taught to control their cravings for unhealthy foods. The study, which was published in the journal Psychological Science, was conducted with 105 subjects between the ages of six and 23, and used MRI brain scans to track their reactions to images of various unhealthy foods.
“These findings are important because they suggest that we may have another tool in our toolbox to combat childhood obesity,” Jennifer A. Silvers, a psychological scientist and the lead researcher, told CTV News.
While most studies involved in the topic look more to changing the availability of unhealthy foods, this one focused on changing the subjects’ reactions to the unhealthy foods. When they did not visualize the flavour of the unhealthy foods, the subjects’ cravings were reduced by 16 per cent.
“Such environmental interventions are clearly important, but sugary sweets and tempting treats cannot always be avoided. If children as young as six can learn to use a cognitive strategy after just a few minutes of training, that has huge implications for interventions,” Silvers told CTV News. “We believe this research has implications for a wide range of people, from basic scientists who are interested in how reward processing changes across the lifespan, to obesity researchers looking to devise interventions to curb childhood obesity, to parents and pediatricians trying to raise healthier and happier kids.”
