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Editor's E-Note
Shaping Pediatric Eating Behaviors
Many factors shape the kind of eaters that children become—and whether they develop disordered eating behaviors—including parent feeding styles and, increasingly, social media. In this month’s E-News Exclusive, we look at what recent research says about how those factors not only influence the nutrition status of child and adolescent diets but also set the stage for a positive or negative relationship with food and body image that may last well into adulthood. We also offer some guidance for how pediatric dietitians can be agents for positive change in sessions and on social media.
After reading the article, visit TD’s website at www.TodaysDietitian.com to read the digital edition of our July/August issue, featuring our cover story, “Reframing Maintenance after Weight Loss Medications,” which addresses how to help patients and clients who have stopped taking GLP-1 medications for weight loss, whether by choice or necessity. You’ll also find features on family-based treatment for pediatric eating disorders, the “athlete paradox” of glucose and insulin impairments in highly trained athletes, and highlights from our fun and intellectually stimulating 13th Annual Spring Symposium.
Please enjoy the E-Newsletter and give us your feedback at TDeditor@gvpub.com, and don’t forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on X, formerly known as Twitter.
— Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN, editor |
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How Parenting Styles and Social Media Impact Pediatric Feeding Disorders
By Carrie Dennett, MPH, RDN
Social media’s negative effects on mental health and eating disorder risk in children and adolescents have received significant media and research attention. Similarly, there’s a body of research exploring how food-related parenting styles influence both body weight and eating disorder risk in children and adolescents.
A 2025 narrative literature review offered a look at the impacts of both parenting style and social media—two of the complex, multifactorial forces shaping pediatric eating behaviors.1 The authors make the case that establishing a healthy relationship with food requires looking beyond simple calorie balance. Instead, they emphasize three intersecting domains: the neurobiology of appetite, the psychological environment created by parenting styles, and the pervasive modern landscape of social media.
The Neurobiology of Eating: Balancing Need and Pleasure
To understand how external factors disrupt children's diets, the authors first detail the intrinsic biological mechanisms that govern appetite—a process they call the “Cycle of Nutrition.” Human food intake is controlled by a delicate integration of homeostatic (energy-balancing) and hedonic (reward-driven) signals, operating across three phases:
1. Hunger: Driven by actual or perceived energy deficits, this phase is largely mediated by the hormone ghrelin, which is produced in the stomach. Ghrelin acts on the hypothalamus to stimulate orexigenic (appetite-increasing) neurons while suppressing appetite-inhibiting pathways. Crucially, ghrelin also triggers the brain's reward circuit, driving an increase of dopamine. This sparks the desire to eat for pleasure (hedonic hunger), even when the body doesn't strictly need calories.
2. Acute satiety: As an individual eats a meal, physical and chemical signals initiate fullness. Gastric distension sends mechanical signals via the vagus nerve to the brain. Simultaneously, the gut releases hormones like cholecystokinin (CCK), which signals the brainstem to end the meal.
3. Prolonged satiety: This phase maintains fullness between meals. It relies on metabolic signals, such as blood nutrient levels, and hormones, such as leptin (released by fat cells), GLP-1, and PYY (secreted in the intestines). These inhibit hunger circuits and keep appetite at bay.
When this biological cycle functions naturally, children self-regulate effectively. However, the authors point out that environmental factors—particularly how parents manage food and the media children consume—can easily override these internal cues.
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Does Drinking Juice, Soda During Childhood Increase the Risk of High Blood Pressure?
Drinking fruit juice and sugar-sweetened beverages from childhood through adulthood may be linked to an increased risk of developing high blood pressure as an adult, according to research published in June in the American Heart Association’s journal Circulation.
“Dietary habits in early life can have lasting health consequences,” says senior study author Vasanti Malik, ScD, MSc, an associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Nutrition and Chronic Disease Prevention in the department of nutritional sciences at Temerty Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto, and an adjunct faculty member in the department of nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
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Hourly Movement Breaks Feasible and Effective for Mitigating Sedentary Harms
Hourly movement breaks of just five minutes each seem to offer the best balance between feasibility and effectiveness for mitigating the health harms of prolonged sitting, suggests a large study carried out under real world conditions and published online in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.
These brief interludes boost mood, lessen fatigue, and don’t undermine work performance, the findings indicate, prompting the researchers to suggest this approach offers potential for a public health strategy and inclusion in physical activity guidelines.
On average, adults in high-income countries are sedentary for 11 to 12 hours during the day—a level of inactivity that has emerged as a significant public health concern, associated with heightened risks of many long-term conditions and death, the researchers note.
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CPE Monthly
In the May/June issue of Today’s Dietitian, take an in-depth dive into GLP-1 receptor agonists and injectables used for weight management. Read the CPE Monthly article, take the 10-question online test at CE.TodaysDietitian.com/CPEmonthly, and earn two CPEUs!
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2027 Spring Symposium
Join us April 25–28, 2027, in Las Vegas for the 14th Annual Today's Dietitian Spring Symposium. Experience four days of practical, evidence-based continuing education, nationally recognized speakers, meaningful professional connections, and memorable special events. Register now to take advantage of early-bird savings and secure your place at one of the profession's premier educational conferences.
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Diet App Scorecard
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In the July/August Issue
• Reframing Maintenance After Weight Loss Medications
• Family-Based Treatment in Pediatric Eating Disorder Care
• The Athlete Paradox
• TD 2026 Spring Symposium Wrap-Up |
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COVER STORY
The Role of Nutrition in Endometriosis
Certain dietary patterns may reduce symptom severity by reducing inflammation and modulating hormone levels. RDs with expertise share clinical wisdom for patients diagnosed with this challenging condition.
FEATURE
Interdisciplinary Care Starts Here
Dietitians can complement medical resident training through educating up-and-coming providers about the clinical necessity of nutrition therapy, modeling collaborative care, and reinforcing the value of referrals to nutrition experts.
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