Eating behavior profiles in children following a 10-week lifestyle camp due to overweight/obesity and low quality of life: A latent profile analysis on eating behavior

Lifestyle interventions are the preferred treatment option for childhood obesity, but the effectiveness varies among individuals, and not all children benefit from treatment which may be explained by different eating behavior profiles. This study aimed to identify eating behavior latent profiles in 7-14 year olds with overweight/obesity and low quality of life (QoL) referred to a 10-week multicomponent lifestyle camp, characterize the profiles, and explore treatment effect across profiles. In total, 174 children with overweight/obesity were included. At baseline, 10 and 52-weeks, participants answered questionnaires on eating behavior traits, QoL, and overeating (OE)/loss-of-control (LOC) eating, while anthropometry was measured. Latent profile analysis was performed to identify eating behavior profiles upon entering. A three-profile solution was identified: Low Food Approach (LFA) showing a low degree of Food Responsiveness (FR) and Emotional Overeating (EOE), Medium Food Approach (MFA) characterized with a moderate FR and EOE, and High Food Approach (HFA) showing the highest degree of FR and EOE. The HFA profile (42 %) was younger, had lowest QoL, and highest body mass index standard deviation score (BMI-SDS) compared to the remaining profiles. The HFA profile showed superior improvements in QoL and OE after 10-weeks, despite no differences in BMI-SDS changes between the profiles. Additionally, the HFA profile showed greater improvements in QoL after 52-weeks but continued to have the highest BMI-SDS. This study emphasizes the importance of personalized approaches in childhood obesity treatment, and identifying eating behavior profiles may be a simple tool for tailoring future intervention strategies.