Boys vs. Girls: How Children Regulate Hunger Differently

A study of 64 children aged 4 to 6 investigated whether apple shape (slices, puree, juice) affects satiety. Unlike adults, children showed no significant differences between apple shapes. However, boys showed better energy regulation (near-perfect compensation) than girls, suggesting that biological factors may influence boys more, while social/learned factors may have a greater impact on girls.

The ability to feel satisfied after eating, what we call satiety, is very important for regulating how much we eat and, consequently, for maintaining a healthy weight. Research with adults has shown that food shape can significantly influence this feeling.

For example, drinking juice can leave a person less satisfied than eating the same fruit in pieces, even if both have the same amount of calories and nutrients. This is because solid foods take longer to chew, stay in the stomach longer, and prolong the feeling of fullness.

But it's still unclear whether this also applies to children. To investigate this question, a group of researchers conducted a study with 64 children aged 4 to 6. Each child participated in five laboratory sessions, once a week. At each visit, they were assigned to a different condition:

1- no pre-meal (control),

2- apple slices,

3- applesauce,

4- apple juice,

5- apple juice sweetened with a non-nutritive sweetener.

All versions (except the juice with sweetener) had the same calorie count, weight, and energy density. Furthermore, the researchers controlled the time of intake and masked the visual volume so that the children were not influenced by the apparent portion size.

After consuming the preload, the children were given a standard meal and allowed to eat as much as they wanted. The researchers then calculated energy compensation, that is, whether the child reduced (or not) the amount of food eaten at the meal after eating the apple in one of the forms.

What did they find? Overall, the form of the apple (slices, puree, or juice) made no significant difference in satiety. The average numbers were close: 112% for slices, 121% for puree, and 120% for juice. However, there was a significant difference between boys and girls.

In boys, apple slices resulted in near-perfect compensation (99%), meaning they ate almost exactly the amount that made sense to balance the meal. In girls, compensation was 125%, meaning that, even after eating the apple, they ended up consuming more energy than expected.

What does this mean? These results suggest that boys appear to respond more to biological satiety cues, while girls may be more influenced by social or learned factors, such as encouragement to eat more or family eating habits.

READ MORE:

Effects of apple form on satiety in 4–6 year-old children: possible evidence of sex differences

Nicole A. Reigh, Barbara J. Rolls, Benjamin A. Baney, Lori A. Francis, Kristin A. Buss, John E. Hayes, Marion M. Hetherington, Kameron Moding, Samantha M.R. Kling, and Kathleen L. Keller

Appetite, Volume 216, 1 January 2026, 108269

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2025.108269

Abstract: 

Research in adults has shown that food form (e.g., liquid, semi-solid, solid) influences satiety, even when energy and energy density are matched. However, less is known about the impact of food form on satiety in children. We examined the influence of food form on children's subsequent meal intake. Children (n = 64, F = 32; mean age 5.9 years-old) completed a crossover study with 5 laboratory visits, each ∼1 week apart. During each visit, children were presented with no preload (control) or one of 4 apple preloads: slices, purée, juice, or juice sweetened with non-nutritive sweetener. Apple slices, purée, and juice were matched for energy and energy density. Visual cues were masked and eating rate was controlled. The order of conditions was pseudorandomized and counterbalanced. Following the preload, children ate ad libitum from a standardized meal and satiety was calculated as the % of energy intake at the preload + meal relative to intake at the no preload condition (100 % = perfect compensation). Food form did not influence satiety. Satiety was 112 %, 121 %, and 120 % for apple slices, purée, and juice, respectively (p > 0.05). Results, however, varied by sex: boys showed near perfect (99 %) compensation for apple slices (p < 0.01), while it was 125 % in girls. Compared to the control condition, satiety in boys was better (i.e., closer to 100 %) than in girls (p < 0.05). Thus, when visual cues were masked and consumption rate controlled, solid fruit and fruit juice had similar effects on satiety, but across fruit forms, boys showed better satiety than girls. These findings suggest that factors that influence satiety differ by child sex; we posit that satiety in girls may be driven more by social/learned cues while boys respond to biological signals.