title: Food is never enough: nature and nurture's influence on children's food dose evaluation.
abstract: This study investigated whether if socioeconomic factors and\or food palatability influence food amount evaluation among children. Ninety-four children, 10-15 years old, living in Mali in Africa, and 124 living in northern Italy were asked to evaluate an amount of palatable and non palatable candies. The evaluations were compared both to the real number of candies and to that given by the other group. Both Italian and Malian children underestimated the edible candies, interestingly however Malian children did not underestimate altered candies. The data suggest that food dose underestimation is a transcultural characteristic. Evaluation of palatable food is not influenced by socio cultural factors. Underestimation could be a biological protective factor against food shortage; in case of food abundance it could play a role in onset and maintenance of obesity.
authors.affiliation: Studi Cognitivi research group, Post-graduate Cognitive Psychotherapy School, Milano, Italy. piervinai@tin.it
authors.forename: Piergiuseppe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vinai
authors.forename: Gabriella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Carpegna
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cardetti
authors.forename: Noemi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ferrato
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vallauri
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Masante
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Meister
authors.forename: Giovanni Maria
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Ruggiero
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sassaroli
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001066:Appetite; D044383:Black People / Q000523:psychology*; D002182:Candy; D002648:Child; D003118:Color Perception; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003469:Culture; D003906:Developing Countries; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D005508:Food Deprivation; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D008302:Mali; D011610:Psychosocial Deprivation; D012903:Smell; D013649:Taste; D014796:Visual Perception; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*