Association between Inhibitory Control Capacity and Body Weight in Overweight and Obese Children and Adolescents: Dependence on Age and Inhibitory Control Component

Abstract

It has been assumed that overweight individuals show weak inhibitory control capacity leading to a failure to resist external cues for palatable food and that this deficit underlies the recently reported empirical association between obesity and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In childhood and adolescence, empirical research on this issue is scarce. Here, the hypothesis is tested that high body weight is associated with weak inhibitory control performance and that this association is moderated by age. The sample included 177 overweight and obese children and adolescents (BMI: M = 29.2, SD = 4.33; BMI-SDS: M = 2.45, SD = 0.43) between 8 and 15 years. Inhibitory control was assessed by a Go/No-Go task and an Interference Task. A principal component analysis yielded two components: impulsivity (fast but invalid responses) and inattention (highly variable reaction times). While controlling for age, gender, and maternal education level, we found that more obese children/adolescents showed more inattention. As indicated by a significant interaction effect, exclusively at younger ages, high impulsivity was associated with high body weight. The results thus confirm a link between low inhibitory control capacity and high body weight and might point to a developmental period with heightened significance of impulsivity for weight gain.

Association between binge eating and attention‐deficit/hyperactivity disorder in two pediatric community mental health clinics

“…Obese children have been found to exhibit heightened reward sensitivity, decreased inhibitory control, and increased impulsivity when compared to children of normal weight. A recent study examining inhibitory control in children suggested that high impulsivity was linked with obesity (31). Impulsivity and reward sensitivity have specifically been found to influence BMI through overeating (32) and high levels of impulsivity may be associated with a rebound effect after eating (7).…”

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

“…Using the Go/No-Go and incompatibility tasks of the Attention Assessment Battery ( n = 177) in 8- to 15-year-old children, Pauli-Pott et al . 17 reported a link between high impulsivity and higher BMI in younger participants. Cserjési et al .…”

Early executive control and risk for overweight and obesity in elementary school

“…In the search to identify critical and modifiable child-level factors that contribute to overweight/obesity risk, executive control (EC) – a set of “top-down” cognitive processes for directing attention and behavior (Garon, Bryson, & Smith, 2008) – has been proposed as a potentially important construct for study (e.g., Martin & Davidson, 2014). An emerging literature suggests a link between poor EC (also known as “executive function”) and overweight/obesity in pediatric samples (e.g., Anzman & Birch, 2009; Pauli-Pott, Albayrak, Hebebrand, & Pott, 2010; Reinert, Po’e, & Barkin, 2013); however, important limitations in existing research undermine our understanding of this association. First, much of the research in this are a is cross-sectional, precluding any insight into the directionality of effects.…”