The document summarizes four studies that examined different factors influencing eating behaviors. The first study showed genetics play a role in eating behaviors like snacking and meal sizes. The second found children who eat more meals away from home consume less calcium. The third demonstrated families with a member in a community garden ate more fruits and vegetables. The fourth associated greater family support for healthy eating with healthier diets in Mexican American children. Together the studies explored genetics, home vs away eating, community gardens, and family influences on dietary behaviors.

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“Eating Behaviors: Genetics of Eating Behavior, Participation in Community Gardens Increasing
Fruit and Vegetable Intakes, At-home and Away-from-home Calcium Intakes, and the
Association Between Family Variables and Mexican American Children’s Dietary Behaviors”
Maria Wendt
Dr. J.A. Mills
21 November 2013

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“One should eat to live, not live to eat” (Moliere). Just like the phrase, “a picture is worth
a thousand words,” this phrase describes why people should eat food; not to feel better or worse
about themselves, but simply to live. Consumers eat food for a voluminous amount of reasons,
those of which are limitless. Generally, it is because society is insatiable, literally and
figuratively. However, there are many other options, such as emotion, physical state, mental
state, location, and even whether families have dinner at home or not, to name a few. One
problem with American’s is that they eat until they are full, not until they are no longer hungry.
This can be explained when a group of friends reunites and travels to a restaurant or a movie and
just cannot seem to stop eating. Food is a common ground for everyone. This is an example of
mindless eating. Studies have shown that eating behaviors coincide with genetics, at-home and
away-from-home food options, having a family member involved in a local garden and family
support. Eleanor R. Grimm, Mary Cluskey et. al., Katherine Alaimo et. al., and Guadalupe X.
Ayala et. al. have tested specific eating behaviors down to the genetics, calcium intake, fruit and
vegetable consumption among urban community gardeners, and family variables with children’s
dietary behaviors.
In Grimm’s article, “Genetics of eating behavior: established and emerging concepts,”
she addressed the general issue of why society eats what they eat, with the main focus of the
hypothesis being on viewing obesity as a consequence of eating behavior (Grimm 52). A
characteristic of the sample chosen was 17,000 obese and normal-weight women as the
independent variable, and snacking behavior and meal sizes and the dependent variable. The
methodology to this study was measured by food logs, observation, food preference flash cards,
labeled scanning, and FMRI (Grimm 53). There was a three-factor questionnaire, (TFQ), which

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included restraint, disinhibition, and hunger, that was used to quantify eating behaviors in
normal-weight and obese individuals (Grimm 53). An implication of this study was that taste
drove our food choice. It was a proven fact that taste was the number one factor for Americans
when deciding what to eat. One limitation of the study was with the FMRI’s. These could only
be used on subjects whose body weights could be accompanied by the equipment (Grimm 57).
Second, in Cluskey’s study titled “At-home and Away-from-home Eating Patterns
Influencing Preadolescents’ Intake of Calcium-rich Food as Perceived by Asian, Hispanic and
Non-Hispanic White Parents,” she gave a general issue of children who eat more away-from-
home and at fast food restaurants consume less calcium-rich foods than children who share meals
with their families more often. Cluskey wanted to test from a parental perspective of household
meal patterns and beverage considerations that influenced intake of calcium-rich foods in
adolescents from selected racial and ethnic groups (Cluskey 73). She went about this study by
giving semi constructed interviews. The parents were recruited by fliers, word of mouth,
personal contact, and e-mail (Cluskey 73). A convenience sample (n=201) of self-reported Asian
(n=54), Hispanic (n=57), and Non-Hispanic White (n=90) was given for ethnicity/race and were
primarily female (95%). These sample data were parents of 10-13 year old children that were
recruited from community youth programs (Cluskey 74). An obvious implication of this study
was in order to increase adolescent’s consumption of calcium-rich foods and beverages, parents
need to turn to more practical measures such as having more meals at home. One drawback
mentioned by Cluskey was the use of a convenience sample with a high education level limiting
the generalizability of the results (78).
Next was Alaimo’s article, “Fruit and Vegetable Intake among Urban Community
Gardeners.” The topic being tested was whether or not having a family member actively

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involved in a community garden increased family fruit and vegetable intake or not. Particular to
this study, the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System questionnaire items were used to
measure fruit and vegetable intake. Household participation in a community garden was
determined by asking the respondent if he or she engaged in a community garden project in the
past year. The sample was of 766 adults who had answered yes to the previous question. The
independent variable was household participation in a community garden, with the dependent
variable being fruit and vegetable intake (Alaimo 95). A recognizable implication was families
who had a member participate in these gardening activities could consume more FV than a
control group who did not have a family member involved in a community garden. One
constraint of this study was that the sample size for involvement in a garden was only 116, while
the sample for no participation was 650 (Alaimo 96).
The last study regarding eating behaviors was written by Ayala, titled “Association
Between Family Variables and Mexican American Children’s Dietary Behaviors.” The basic
issue was that Latino children are more likely to be overweight than their non-Latino peers
(Ayala 62). Ayala conducted this experiment to examine the relationships between family
variables and children’s dietary intakes, as stated in the title. She also wanted to see how
television food and snack advertisements were related to dietary intake (Ayala 62). This study
was defined as a cross-sectional study with households sampled using random-digit dialing.
Children then completed a one-time, self-administered survey, either the survey for nine to
twelve year olds, or thirteen to eighteen year olds, while the mothers participated in a face-to-
face interview (Ayala 63). The sample size was 167 Mexican American children and their
mothers. There were many dependent variables in this study, including household size, support
for healthful eating, number of meals eaten together, fast food availability at home, food

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advertisements seen on television, and parent purchasing of food products seen on television.
The control was Mexican American children and their mothers. The main implication was that
family interventions were needed to control the amount of advertised junk food products parents
bought for their children and they needed to start to have more family oriented meals to manage
what nutrients went into their bodies (Ayala 68). This study had two significant limitations. The
first was that the questionnaires were not developed with a Latino or youth population in mind.
The second was in their methodology of recruitment. Using random-dialing was only applicable
to a portion of the population (Ayala 68). Not every household had a landline when the study
was being conducted and were, therefore, left out of the study and could have potentially
broadened the results to represent the majority of the population.
The results from these four studies were all intertwined with some aspect of eating
behaviors. The study conducted by Grimm showed that eating behavior was a complex trait with
genetic and environmental influences. Risk of obesity and complications was accompanied by a
variety of common genetic variants (Grimm 57). Fat mass and obesity-associated genes
demonstrated that a genetic predisposition to obesity can be overcome with prudent diet and
exercise (Grimm 58). It was bold to have said that statement, because even though it was true, it
was also a task that was near impossible. Society assumed that overweight people were out of
shape, when in fact, some of them could be as in shape as a skinny person, yet unable to have
their body physique due to their genetic predisposition. Cluskey concluded that lack of time
impacted the amount of food eaten at home and, therefore, decreased consumption of calcium-
rich foods (74). Asian and Hispanic parents indicated that they ate out less frequently than non-
Hispanic White parents. However, all groups of parents lacked expectations for their child’s
consumption of calcium-rich food and beverages because they believed they consumed enough

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of it from the foods and milk at school (Cluskey 75). It was believed in everyday life that it
would be hard to sit down and have breakfast as a family when family members were rushing to
get around and be prepared for the day. That was how a typical family was raised and is still
applied today. Alaimo proved, from her study and sample size, that there were more
consumption patterns involving fruits and vegetables in households with an active family
member in a community garden compared to those who were not active. Community gardener
families consumed fruits and vegetables 1.4 times more, and were 3.5 times more likely to
consume them at least five times daily (Alaimo 96). Lastly, Ayala was able to find that greater
family support for healthful eating was associated with fewer snacks and more fiber consumed
(62). Children whose parents bought food advertised on television were more likely to consume
snacks high in fat and eat out at fast food restaurants (Ayala 62). From the foregoing, it is clear
that these four studies had the shared topic of eating behaviors. However, these were only a few
of the many factors influencing why society consumed what they did. For reasons good and bad,
we eat. From the wise words of Hippocrates, “Let thy food be thy medicine, and let thy
medicine be thy food.”

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Works Cited
Alaimo, K., Packnett, E., Miles, R.A., and Kruger, D.J. (2008). Journal of Nutrition Education
and Behavior. “Fruit and Vegetable Intake among Urban Community Gardeners.” 94-
101.
Ayala, G.X., Baquero, B., Arredondo, E.M., Campbell, N., LArios, S., and Elder, J.P. (2007).
Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior. “Association Between Family Variables
and Mexican American Children’s Dietary Behaviors.” 62-69.
Cluskey, M., Edlefsen, M., Olson, B., Reicks, M., Auld, G., Bock, M.A., Boushey, C.J., Bruhn,
C., Goldberg, D., Misner, S., Wang, C., and Zaghoul, S. (2008). Journal of nutrition
Education and Behavior. “At-home and Away-from-home Eating Patterns Influencing
Preadolescents’ Intake of Calcium-rich Food as Perceived by Asian, Hispanic and Non-
Hispanic White Parents.” 72-79.
Grimm, E. R., and Steinle, N.I. (2011). Nutrition Reviews. “Genetics of eating behavior:
established and emerging concepts.” 52-58.