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Monitoring Eating Across Locations (MEAL) - Timing, Intake, and Mealtime Evaluation (TIME)

Who can join

Ages 6 to 9 · All sexes · Healthy volunteers welcome

Inclusion Criteria:

* children must be between the ages of 6-9 years-old
* children are of good health with no learning disabilities (e.g., ADHD, determined by parent report)
* children are not on any medications known to impact body weight, taste, food intake, behavior, or blood flow
* parents report that children like and are willing to eat study foods

Exclusion Criteria:

* Children are not within the age requirements (\<6 years old or \> 9 years old)
* If children are taking cold or allergy medication, or other medications known to influence cognitive function, taste, appetite, or blood flow.
* If children don't speak English.
* If children are colorblind.
* If children have a learning disability, ADD/ADHD, language delays, autism or other neurological or psychological conditions.
* If children have a pre-existing medical condition such as type I or type II diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, Cushing's syndrome, Down's syndrome, severe lactose intolerance, Prader-Willi syndrome, HIV, cancer, renal failure, or cerebral palsy.
* If children are allergic to foods or ingredients used in the study.
* child received an X-ray in the previous year (to avoid excess radiation exposure due to the DXA scans performed in the research)

About the study

Increased availability of high-energy dense foods has contributed to a pediatric obesity epidemic, with 23% of United States children currently presenting with the disease. How children eat contributes to both overconsumption and greater adiposity. However, it is unclear if laboratory measures of children's eating style generalize to the home environment, where children consume two thirds of their total energy. The study will 1) test if child eating styles observed in the lab generalize to more ecologically valid home environments and 2) identify aspects of home food environment that amplify obesogenic eating behaviors. We will assess laboratory and home eating styles (e.g., bite rate) in 100 prepubertal 6-9-year-old children to constrain variability in energy requirements. Children will be video-recorded while consuming identical study-provided meals at home and in the laboratory (counter-balanced order) in addition to a 'typical' meal at home. To study how adiposity relates to "obesogenic" styles of eating, gold standard dual x-ray absorptiometry will be used.

What is being tested

• Meal Location (behavioral)

Sponsor: Penn State University · Participants: 100 · Started: Nov 15, 2025

Contact the study team

Official record on ClinicalTrials.gov — NCT07095166

Locations in the U.S.

Conditions

• Obesity in Children
• Obesity

From ClinicalTrials.gov, data retrieved Sep 30, 2026. Each study sets its own eligibility; the study team decides who can join.