UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Kathleen L. Keller, Penn State professor of nutritional sciences and food science, will present the 2024 Pattishall Research Lecture, “Understanding Children's Eating Behaviors: The What, Why and How?”
The lecture, sponsored by the College of Health and Human Development, will be presented on Wednesday, March 20, at 3 p.m. in the Edna Bennett Pierce Living Center (110 Henderson Building). The lecture is free and open to the public. Keller was recipient of the 2023 Evan G. and Helen G. Pattishall Outstanding Research Achievement Award, which recognizes a faculty member for advancing the frontiers of knowledge. Each year, the recipient delivers a lecture related to their research.
Keller is the director of the Children’s Eating Behavior Laboratory, a research facility at Penn State dedicated to understanding the neurobiological and behavioral drivers of eating behaviors in children. Eating is one of the first behaviors that children learn to master, yet it can often seem like parents and caregivers know so little about what motivates children to make the choices they do.
Her research seeks to understand the factors driving what, why and how children eat, along with how these eating behaviors can relate to the development of childhood obesity. The talk will discuss work from her lab, which has identified genetic, neural and behavioral determinants of what foods children like and eat.
Since coming to Penn State in 2012, Keller’s research program has been dedicated to understanding why and how children respond to cues in the obesogenic environment, like supersize portions and fast-food marketing. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, these studies have demonstrated how children’s brains are influenced by exposure to large portions of high-calorie foods and fast-food marketing and, further, how changes in children's brains can relate to their eating behaviors.
Keller’s most recent study has followed children from in and around Centre County, characterizing a novel cluster of eating behaviors that predict increases in body weight prior to adolescence.
“By identifying these risk factors, the hope is that we can develop and target interventions for children and families that will prevent the development of obesity before excess weight gain begins,” Keller explained.
The Pattishall Research Lecture is delivered each year by the most recent recipient of the Pattishall Outstanding Research Achievement Award, which honors a senior faculty member who has made outstanding research contributions to the field across a major portion of his or her career. The award was established by the late Evan Pattishall, who served as dean of the former College of Human Development, and his wife, Helen Pattishall.