Kids: Brief Sleepers Eat More

Children who don't sleep enough tend to eat more, risking childhood obesity, according to a new study.

The study, published in the International Journal of Obesity, sought to determine the cause behind ties between obesity and sleep loss identified by previous studies.

University College London (UCL) researchers studied more than British 1,300 children who were 16 months old. According to the study, the UCL team measured the children's sleep habits when they were 16 months old, and followed up to check their dietary habits five months later.

The team found that toddlers who slept less than ten hours a day had a daily caloric intake that was about 10 percent more than the caloric intake of children who slept more than 13 hours a day.

Dr. Abi Fisher of the Health Behavior Research Center at UCL explained that this was the first study of its kind to link sleep habits to calories consumption in children younger than three years old.

Fisher went on to say that although previous research has already shown that adults and adolescents experiencing regular sleep loss eat more, these behaviors can be attributed to conscious decision.

However, "in early life parents make most of the decisions about when and how much their children eat, so young children cannot be assumed to show the same patterns," Fisher adds.

Because of this factor, the UCL team was unable to determine a cause-and-effect relationship for increased caloric intake and sleep loss in toddlers. According to Fisher, there were just too many exterior factors that needed to be considered, such as food availability, the presence of parents, and the quality of food available.

Still, the key finding that children who sleep less eat more was well supported by the study's data.

 "Although more research is needed to understand why this might be," Fisher said in the UCL release, "it is something parents should be made aware of."

The study was published in the International Journal of Obesity. A UCL press release accompanying the study was published on March 25.