Sani, Salma Luthfiyah;
Alfaraidi, Sara;
Mu, Yongqi;
Sinaga, Gideon Hot Partogi;
Singhal, Atul;
(2025)
The Effect of Portion Size Interventions on Energy Intake and Risk of Obesity in School-Aged Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Nutrients
, 17
(18)
, Article 2911. 10.3390/nu17182911.
Preview |
Text
Finalnutrients-17-02911.pdf - Accepted Version Download (2MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Objectives: An increase in food portion size offered to children over recent decades has been suggested to contribute to the rise in childhood obesity. This review investigated the effect of interventions that manipulated portion size on energy intake and risk of obesity in school-aged children. Methods: A systematic search was performed using MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases (from inception to 2025). Included studies were original articles in English, involving children aged 5–17 years, that focused on portion size interventions using an experimental or controlled study design, with energy intake, body weight, or body mass index (BMI) as the study outcome. The risk of bias was evaluated using the Quality Criteria Checklist (QCC). Results: From 514 articles identified, 10 met the inclusion criteria, including a total of 1765 participants. Larger portion sizes increased food intake (grams) and/or energy intake (kcal) in eight studies but did not affect energy intake in one study. Another study focusing on fruit and vegetable portions found inconsistent results. The meta-analysis found that larger portion sizes were associated with higher energy intake compared to the reference portion (mean difference = 86.0 kcal/meal, 95% CI [62.2, 109.9], p < 0.00001). Conclusions: Offering children larger portions increases energy intake. However, this finding was limited by being based mainly on studies which manipulated portion size at a single meal, in a laboratory setting, and with only short-term measures of energy intake. Future studies need to investigate the long-term effects of portion size interventions on energy intake and risk of childhood obesity.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Effect of Portion Size Interventions on Energy Intake and Risk of Obesity in School-Aged Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis |
| Location: | Switzerland |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3390/nu17182911 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17182911 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Portion size; energy intake; obesity; school-aged children |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Population, Policy and Practice Dept |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10215046 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
