Cultivating self‐regulatory eating behaviours during childhood: The evidence and opportunities

AbstractGlobal high levels of obesity and metabolic disease have called for a reformulation of the food environment to reduce portion sizes and food energy density, particularly from added sugars, highlighting the importance of the food environment in energy intake and adiposity. Young children are often assumed to have the ability to self‐regulate eating behaviours in a way that protects against overconsumption. Therefore, a complementary approach to changing the food environment is to identify and cultivate ‘protective’ eating behaviours from an early age. But what is the evidence for children's capacity to self‐regulate food intake? And could cultivating self‐regulatory eating behaviours complement broader environmental approaches aimed at reducing unhealthy weight gain during childhood? This review considers these questions with a focus on three aspects of eating behaviour that challenge energy intake regulation and healthy growth: large portion sizes, eating speed and energy compensation abilities. As children get older and gain more experience in the food environment, individual self‐regulatory skills can be compromised by factors such as sustained exposure to large portion sizes and feeding practices that fail to take into account children's appetite cues. More research is required to understand the developmental trajectories of children's eating behaviours, but parents and caregivers have the opportunity to promote self‐regulatory eating from a young age. The success of individualised interventions that aim to empower children to recognise and respond to their own appetite signals will be contingent on broader improvements to the wider food environment.