Effect of the energy density and volume of high carbohydrate meals on short term satiety in preschool children.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of energy density and food volume intakes in one meal (lunch-time) on food and energy intakes in the subsequent meal (tea-time). DESIGN: During lunch, two meals with different energy densities (1.26 and 0.69 kcal/g) were offered to preschool children using normal foods and maintaining a similar energy, carbohydrate, and fat intakes. In the subsequent meal a varied type of high acceptability foods were served in higher amounts than those that children usually consume. SETTING: A day care center where the children were fed during lunch-time and tea-time. SUBJECTS: Two hundred and thirty-four normal preschool children, 108 males and 126 females, according to the weight for height index using the NCHS standards. METHODS: Chemical analysis of the meals served using the AOAC methods and determination of food and energy intakes by differential weighing of the foods. RESULTS: The preschool children had a similar energy intake at lunch but a significantly higher food intake when they consumed the meal with the lower energy density (313 vs. 290.7 kcal) (P = 0.001). There were no differences in the food intakes at the subsequent meal times. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this present work demonstrate that under the conditions of the study, there is an inverse relationship between the energy density of the meals consumed at the first meal-time and the energy intakes at the subsequent meal in normal preschool children; and a direct relationship with the short-term satiety. It is possible that differences in satiety reflect, in part, effects from the characteristics of the normal food used in the dietary treatments. These conclusions suggest that future research must be carried out in order to investigate the separate effects of food and the dietary variables commonly used in the studies of food and energy regulations in humans.