title: Overweight and obese humans overeat away from home.
abstract: The built environment has been implicated in the development of the epidemic of obesity. We investigated the differences in the meal patterns of normal weight vs. overweight/obese individuals occurring at home vs. other locations. The location of meals and their size in free-living participants were continuously recorded for 7 consecutive days. Study 1: 81 males and 84 females recorded their intake in 7-day diet diaries and wore a belt that contained a GPS Logger to record their location continuously for 7 consecutive days. Study 2: 388 males and 621 females recorded their intake in diet diaries for 7 consecutive days. In both studies, compared to eating at home, overweight/obese participants ate larger meals away from home in both restaurants and other locations than normal weight participants. Overweight/obese individuals appear to be more responsive to environmental cues for eating away from home. This suggests that the influence of the built environment on the intake of overweight/obese individuals may contribute to the obesity epidemic.
authors.affiliation: College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX 77341, USA. jdecastro@shsu.edu
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: de Castro
authors.forename: George A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: King
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Duarte-Gardea
authors.forename: Salvador
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gonzalez-Ayala
authors.forename: Charles H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Kooshian
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D004032:Diet; D002149:Energy Intake; D004779:Environment Design; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D062407:Meals; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology*; D050177:Overweight / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012147:Restaurants; D012931:Social Environment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires