ArticleDevelopmental science2020
The development of executive function in early childhood is inversely related to change in body mass index: Evidence for an energetic tradeoff?
Article in Developmental science, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
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Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed.
- Targeted self-regulation interventions in low-income children: Clinical trial results and implications for health behavior change.Journal of experimental child psychology · 2021Trial
- Early Reward Learning and the Origins of Obesity: Food, Non-Food Reward, and Developing Self-Regulation.Current obesity reports · 2026Review
- Infant social withdrawal and rapid infant weight gain.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Article
- Appetite Self-Regulation in Childhood: A Narrative Review and Conceptual Model of Processes and Mechanisms With Implications for Research and Practice.Nutrition reviews · 2025Review
- Executive Function Response to Moderate-to-High-Intensity Rope Skipping in Overweight Adolescents Aged 12-14: A Preliminary Study.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
- In Search of Environmental Factors Associated With Global Differences in Birth Weight and BMI.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2025Article
- Using Metabolic Testing to Personalize Behavioral Obesity Treatment.Obesity science & practice · 2025Article
- Association between physical activity and executive function of Chinese adolescents aged 13-18.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2025Article
- Early life adversity jointly regulates body-mass index and working memory development.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2023Article
- The interconnection between obesity and executive function in adolescence: The role of the gut microbiome.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Review
- Profiles of early family environments and the growth of executive function: Maternal sensitivity as a protective factor.Development and psychopathology · 2023Article
- Association between executive functions and gross motor skills in overweight/obese and eutrophic preschoolers: cross-sectional study.BMC pediatrics · 2022Article
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- Why do humans undergo an adiposity rebound? Exploring links with the energetic costs of brain development in childhood using MRI-based 4D measures of total cerebral blood flow.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2022Article
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- Amount and type of physical activity as predictors of growth in executive functions, attentional control, and social self-control across 4 years of elementary school.Developmental science · 2022Article
- Muscle strength and executive function in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2021Article
- Executive Function and BMI Trajectories Among Rural, Poor Youth at High Risk for Obesity.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2021Article
- The Cognitive, Ecological, and Developmental Origins of Self-Disturbance in Borderline Personality Disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
A well-established literature demonstrates executive function (EF) deficits in obese children and adults relative to healthy weight comparisons. EF deficits in obesity are associated with overeating and impulsive consumption of high calorie foods leading to excess weight gain and to problems with metabolic regulation and low-grade inflammation that detrimentally affect the structure and function of prefrontal cortex. Here, we test a complementary explanation for the relation between EF and body mass index (BMI) grounded in the energy demand of the developing brain. Recent work shows that the brain accounts for a lifetime peak of 66% of resting metabolic rate in childhood and that developmental changes in brain energetics and normative changes in body weight gain are closely inversely related. This finding suggests a trade-off in early childhood between energy used to support brain development versus energy used to support physical growth and fat deposition. To test this theorized energetic trade-off, we analyzed data from a large longitudinal sample (N = 1,292) and found that change in EF from age 3 to 5 years, as a proxy for brain development in energetically costly prefrontal cortex, is inversely related to change in BMI from age 2 to 5 years. Greater linear decline in BMI predicted greater linear increase in EF. We interpret this finding as tentative support for a brain-body energetic trade-off in early childhood with implications for lifetime obesity risk.
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