The presence of friends increases food intake in youth

Background: Friendship may be uniquely relevant and influential to youths' eating behavior. Objective: This study examined how overweight and nonoverweight youths adjust their level of eating as a function of their familiarity with their eating partner. Design: Twenty-three overweight and 42 nonoverweight youths had the opportunity to play and eat with a friend (n = 26) or with an unfamiliar peer (n = 39). The dependent variables of interest were the amount of nutrient-dense and energy-dense foods children consumed and their total energy intake. Results: Participants eating with a friend ate substantially more than did participants eating with an unfamiliar peer. Furthermore, overweight youth, but not nonoverweight youth, who ate with an overweight partner (friend or unfamiliar peer) consumed more food than did overweight participants who ate with a nonoverweight eating partner. Matching of intake was greater between friends than between unfamiliar peers. Conclusions: These results extend previous research by suggesting that the effect of the partners' weight statuses may add to the facilitative effect of familiarity and result in greater energy intake in overweight youth and their friends. Behavioral similarity among overweight youth may increase the difficulty of promoting longterm changes because the youths' social network is likely to reinforce overeating. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials. gov as NCT00874055. Am J Clin Nutr 2009;90:282-7.