Several COPT fellows participated in the Penn State Graduate Exhibition, held on March 26th, 2017. This is an opportunity for Penn State graduate students to showcase their research and practice giving a 5-minute judged summary of their findings. Each student gave us a recap on their experience. We will be featuring one student per post as part of this series.
Alissa Smethers
Q: What was the title of your presentation?
The portion size effect persists over 5 days in preschool children
Q: What were the main points of your presentation?
In a crossover design, we varied the portion size of foods and beverages served to preschool children at all meals for 5 consecutive days during 2 periods. In one period, baseline amounts of all items were served, and in the other, the portions of all items were increased by 50%; intake of all items was weighed. Children responded to larger portions by consuming more food by weight (16%) and energy (18%). The effect of portion size on preschool children’s intake persisted over 5 days, a period thought to be long enough for regulatory systems to respond to excess energy intake.
Q: What was your experience like?
I liked the Graduate Exhibition because it allowed us to share our research with others here at Penn State and it allowed us to see what other graduate students are working on.