Potential of Synechococcus elongatus UTEX 2973 as a feedstock for sugar production during mixed aquaculture and swine wastewater bioremediation.

The demand for protein is increasing with an expanding world population and is influencing the rapid growth of fish and animal agriculture. These sectors are becoming a significant source of water pollution and need to develop environmentally sustainable techniques that are cost-effective, ideally with potential for downstream value-added production. This study investigated the potential of one of the fastest-growing cyanobacterial species, Synechococcus elongatus UTEX 2973, for bioremediation of mixed wastewater (combination of sturgeon and swine wastewater). Three different mixing ratios (25:75, 50:50, and 75:25 sturgeon:swine) were compared to find a suitable combination for the growth of S. elongatus as well as carbohydrate accumulation in biomass. The final biomass production was found to be 0.65 ± 0.03 g Dry cell Weight (DW)/L for 75%-25 %, 0.90 ± 0.004 g DW/L for 50%-50 %, and 0.71 ± 0.04 g DW/L for 25%-75 % sturgeon-swine wastewater combination. Cyanobacteria cultivated in 50%-50 % sturgeon-swine wastewater also accumulated 70 % total carbohydrate of DW, whereas 75%-25 % sturgeon-swine and 25%-75 % sturgeon-swine accumulated 53 % and 45 %, respectively. Subsequently, the S. elongatus cells were grown in a separate batch of 50%-50 % sturgeon-swine wastewater and compared with cells grown in BG11 synthetic growth media. Cultivation in BG11 resulted in higher biomass production but lower carbohydrate accumulation than 50%-50 % mixed wastewater. Final biomass production was 0.85 ± 0.08 g DW/L for BG11 and 0.65 ± 0.04 g DW/L for 50%-50 % sturgeon-swine wastewater. Total carbohydrate accumulated was 75 % and 64 % of DW for 50%-50 % sturgeon-swine mixed wastewater and BG11 growth media, respectively, where glycogen was the main carbohydrate component (90 %). The nutrient removal efficiencies of S. elongatus were 67.15 % for orthophosphate, 93.39 % for nitrate-nitrite, and 97.98 % for ammonia. This study suggested that S. elongatus is a promising candidate for enabling simultaneous bioremediation of mixed wastewater and the production of value-added biochemicals.

Low-Income Latina Mothers' Scaffolding of Preschoolers' Behavior in a Stressful Situation and Children's Self-Regulation: A Longitudinal Study.

Objective: Maternal control and directiveness in Latina/o families often do not show the negative associations with child adjustment seen in European American samples. This study tested the self-determination hypotheses that Latina maternal involvement and structure would be positively associated with preschool children's later self-regulation, whereas directiveness and control would show negative relations. Design: At Time 1, 130 low-income Latina mothers were observed helping their 4- to 5-year-old children complete a stressful task. Maternal strategies for scaffolding children's responses to stress were examined with detailed event coding. At Time 1 and Time 2 18 months later, a delay of gratification task assessed children's self-regulation. Results: Children's Time 2 ability to delay gratification at 5½ to 6½ years (controlling for delay of gratification at ages 4 to 5) was predicted by Time 1 maternal scaffolding strategies. Children showing the greatest delay gratification at Time 2 (controlling for delay of gratification at Time 1) had mothers who used instructive praise and nonverbal autonomy-promoting scaffolding strategies at Time 1. Negative predictors included nonverbal attention directing and restriction. Conclusions: The findings highlight the importance of physical guidance in Latina/o families and suggest that highly directive maternal strategies may not interfere with the development of self-regulation as is often found in European American families. These findings will be useful in developing interventions to promote self-regulation in Latina/o children from low-income families.

Elucidating Plant-Microbe-Environment Interactions Through Omics-Enabled Metabolic Modelling Using Synthetic Communities.

With a growing world population and increasing frequency of climate disturbance events, we are in dire need of methods to improve plant productivity, resilience, and resistance to both abiotic and biotic stressors, both for agriculture and conservation efforts. Microorganisms play an essential role in supporting plant growth, environmental response, and susceptibility to disease. However, understanding the specific mechanisms by which microbes interact with each other and with plants to influence plant phenotypes is a major challenge due to the complexity of natural communities, simultaneous competition and cooperation effects, signalling interactions, and environmental impacts. Synthetic communities are a major asset in reducing the complexity of these systems by simplifying to dominant components and isolating specific variables for controlled experiments, yet there still remains a large gap in our understanding of plant microbiome interactions. This perspectives article presents a brief review discussing ways in which metabolic modelling can be used in combination with synthetic communities to continue progress toward understanding the complexity of plant-microbe-environment interactions. We highlight the utility of metabolic models as applied to a community setting, identify different applications for both flux balance and elementary flux mode simulation approaches, emphasize the importance of ecological theory in guiding data interpretation, and provide ideas for how the integration of metabolic modelling techniques with big data may bridge the gap between simplified synthetic communities and the complexity of natural plant-microbe systems.

Environment Constrains Fitness Advantages of Division of Labor in Microbial Consortia Engineered for Metabolite Push or Pull Interactions.

Fitness benefits from division of labor are well documented in microbial consortia, but the dependency of the benefits on environmental context is poorly understood. Two synthetic Escherichia coli consortia were built to test the relationships between exchanged organic acid, local environment, and opportunity costs of different metabolic strategies. Opportunity costs quantify benefits not realized due to selecting one phenotype over another. The consortia catabolized glucose and exchanged either acetic or lactic acid to create producer-consumer food webs. The organic acids had different inhibitory properties and different opportunity costs associated with their positions in central metabolism. The exchanged metabolites modulated different consortial dynamics. The acetic acid-exchanging (AAE) consortium had a "push" interaction motif where acetic acid was secreted faster by the producer than the consumer imported it, while the lactic acid-exchanging (LAE) consortium had a "pull" interaction motif where the consumer imported lactic acid at a comparable rate to its production. The LAE consortium outperformed wild-type (WT) batch cultures under the environmental context of weakly buffered conditions, achieving a 55% increase in biomass titer, a 51% increase in biomass per proton yield, an 86% increase in substrate conversion, and the complete elimination of by-product accumulation all relative to the WT. However, the LAE consortium had the trade-off of a 42% lower specific growth rate. The AAE consortium did not outperform the WT in any considered performance metric. Performance advantages of the LAE consortium were sensitive to environment; increasing the medium buffering capacity negated the performance advantages compared to WT. IMPORTANCE Most naturally occurring microorganisms persist in consortia where metabolic interactions are common and often essential to ecosystem function. This study uses synthetic ecology to test how different cellular interaction motifs influence performance properties of consortia. Environmental context ultimately controlled the division of labor performance as shifts from weakly buffered to highly buffered conditions negated the benefits of the strategy. Understanding the limits of division of labor advances our understanding of natural community functioning, which is central to nutrient cycling and provides design rules for assembling consortia used in applied bioprocessing.

Exploratory analysis of Spirulina platensis LB 2340 growth in varied concentrations of anaerobically digested pig effluent (ADPE).

There is a significant interest in novel waste management solutions to treat wastewater from swine operations. Anaerobic digestion is a rising and prominent solution, but this technology still generates highly concentrated effluent that requires further remediation. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the feasibility of cultivating the cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis in swine effluent for future applications in biological waste treatment and value-added fermentation. To accomplish this goal, growth of S. platensis was characterized in varying proportions of ideal, synthetic Zarrouk medium and anaerobically digested pig effluent (ADPE) to obtain growth rate models. Results yielded a positive correlation between S. platensis growth rate and Zarrouk medium proportion, with the highest growth rate in 100% Zarrouk media but comparable growth in the 50/50% Zarrouk/ADPE mixture. This study demonstrates the potential for S. platensis to further improve the treatment efficacy of anaerobic digestion systems, and the exploratory analysis also highlights that further testing is required to investigate possible carbon availability, chemical inhibition, and overall nutrient reduction in ADPE. This research contributes important data toward the feasibility of producing value-added cyanobacterial biomass while simultaneously consuming excess nutrients to aid in agricultural wastewater management efforts and generate cost-effective products in a more sustainable manner.

Twelve-Month Efficacy of an Obesity Prevention Program Targeting Hispanic Families With Preschoolers From Low-Income Backgrounds.

OBJECTIVE: Assess effects of an obesity prevention program promoting eating self-regulation and healthy preferences in Hispanic preschool children. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial with pretest, posttest, 6- and 12-month assessments. Fourteen waves, each lasting 7 weeks. SETTING: Families recruited from Head Start across 2 sites. PARTICIPANTS: Two hundred fifty-five families randomized into prevention (n = 136) or control (n = 119). INTERVENTION: Prevention received curriculum; control received no curriculum. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Feeding knowledge/practices/styles (parent); body mass index percentile, eating self-regulation, trying new foods, and fruit/vegetable consumption (child). ANALYSIS: Multilevel analyses for nested data (time points within families; families within waves) and multinomial regression. RESULTS: Program increased mothers' repeated presentation of new foods (P < 0.05), measured portion sizes (P < 0.05), child involvement in food preparation (P < 0.001), feeding responsiveness (P < 0.001), knowledge of best feeding practices (P < 0.001), and feeding efficacy (P < 0.05); reduced feeding misconceptions (P < 0.01) and uninvolved feeding (P < 0.01). Effects on child eating behavior were minimal. At 12 months, children in the prevention group were less likely to have overweight (P < 0.05) or obesity (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Program effects emphasize the importance of feeding approaches in reducing childhood obesity.

Observations of Maternal Feeding Practices and Styles and Young Children's Obesity Risk: A Longitudinal Study of Hispanic Mothers with Low Incomes.

Background: Maternal feeding practices and styles are well-established correlates of children's BMI z-scores in the preschool years. Most studies, however, are cross-sectional, using maternal self-reports to examine feeding. This study examined, over a 3½-year period, the relationship between observed and self-reported feeding practices/styles and children's BMI z-scores in a sample of Hispanic mothers with low incomes and their preschool children. Methods: One hundred eighty-seven mothers were observed feeding their 4- to 5-year old during a buffet meal in a laboratory setting and completed self-report measures on their feeding practices and styles. Children's BMI z-scores were assessed at this visit and 3½ years later. Results: Consistent with previous research, observed and self-reported pressure to eat and/or authoritarian feeding were negatively associated with children's BMI z-scores at the first time point; observed discouraging eating was positively associated. However, children's BMI z-scores 3½ years later, controlling for Time 1 BMI z-scores, were positively associated with observed pressure to eat. Observed maternal reasoning and self-reported monitoring of children's eating behavior at Time 1 were negatively associated with later BMI z-scores. Only self-reported feeding styles predicted later children's BMI z-scores, with indulgent and authoritative styles positively associated with children's BMI z-scores at the third time point. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that mothers who ignore their children's fullness cues and pressure them to eat have children who are at greater risk for the development of later obesity. Implications for the development of family-focused childhood obesity prevention programs are discussed.

Short-Term Effects of an Obesity Prevention Program Among Low-Income Hispanic Families With Preschoolers.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the short-term effects of an obesity prevention program promoting eating self-regulation and healthy food preferences in low-income Hispanic children. DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial with pretest, posttest, and 6- and 12-month assessments. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Head Start and similar early learning institutions in Houston, TX, and Pasco, WA. A total of 255 families with preschoolers randomized into prevention (n = 136) and control (n = 119) groups. INTERVENTION: Multicomponent family-based prevention program. Fourteen waves lasted 7 weeks each with 8-10 mother-child dyads in each group. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Parent assessments included feeding practices, styles, and knowledge. Child assessments included child eating self-regulation, willingness to try new foods, and parent report of child fruit and vegetable preferences. Parent and child heights and weights were measured. ANALYSIS: Multilevel analyses were employed to consider the nested nature of the data: time points within families within waves. RESULTS: The program had predicted effects on parental feeding practices, styles, and knowledge in the pre- to post-comparisons. Effects on child eating behavior were minimal; only the number of different vegetables tried showed significant pre-post differences. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Short-term effects of this prevention program highlight the importance of family-focused feeding approaches to combating child overweight and obesity.

Role of resource allocation and transport in emergence of cross-feeding in microbial consortia.

Microbial communities that implement mutual cross-feeding are commonly observed in nature and with synthetic constructs in laboratory experiments. A mathematical model of competition in a chemostat is developed to investigate the role that resource allocation and transport of metabolites play in cooperation. The model contains four cell types that differ by whether they produce two, one, or none of two essential metabolites. Producing cell types may export these resources into the environment, and those that do not produce both metabolites must import the missing resource. The contribution to the emergence of a collaborative consortium of single resource producers from the transport rate of these metabolites and the type of transport used by the cell (active vs. passive) is studied. Multiple instances of bi-stability and tri-stability are observed, and the effect of the initial concentration of a non-cooperative cheater cell type on the final outcome of the competition is examined. When the cost of producing metabolites is introduced into the model, significant changes to the outcome of the competition are observed, including coexistence of multiple cell types.

The Food Parenting Inventory: Factor structure, reliability, and validity in a low-income, Latina sample.

Currently, a number of questionnaires exist assessing a wide range of food parenting practices with young children. In 2016, a concept map covering three food parenting domains-coercive control, parental structure, and autonomy support-was published along with a critical review of the literature. Mapping existing food parenting questionnaires onto these concepts showed that the major focus had been on coercive control. Important aspects of the parenting process around feeding have been inadvertently omitted-parental responsiveness to children's fullness cues, parental strategies to encourage children to try new foods, and parental practices related to children's portion sizes. To address this, we developed the Food Parenting Inventory (FPI) targeting encouragement of new foods, mealtime structure, and external control. This new questionnaire draws from a variety of sources including the Child Feeding Questionnaire and the Family Rituals Questionnaire. The FPI addresses most of the food parenting practices outlined in the concept map with the exception of food availability/accessibility, food preparation, and praise. Psychometrics were assessed with a sample of 248 low-income, Latina mothers who completed questionnaires on food parenting practices, parental feeding styles, and child eating behaviors. Findings suggest good initial evidence for the reliability and validity of the FPI among Latina families with preschoolers. This questionnaire advances the field of food parenting by targeting neglected constructs that play an important role in the development of child eating behaviors.

Observed and self-reported assessments of caregivers' feeding styles: Variable- and person-centered approaches for examining relationships with children's eating behaviors.

BACKGROUND: Demandingness and responsiveness are dimensions used in general parenting as well as the feeding literature to measure parent attitudes and behaviors. These dimensions can be treated as continuous variables (variable-centered) or used to form groups of parents based on scores on each dimension (person-centered). Research focusing on these dimensions in the feeding domain has relied exclusively on maternal self-reports; observational studies of feeding styles have yet to be conducted. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of variable-centered versus person-centered analyses in examining relationships between maternal feeding styles, child eating behaviors, and child weight status using both self-reported and observational methods for assessing parental feeding style. METHODS: Participants included 137 low-income Head Start mothers and their preschoolers. Mothers completed the Caregiver's Feeding Styles Questionnaire and the Children's Eating Behavior Questionnaire. Parent/child interactions were observed during dinner meals at home and were coded using a previously developed coding system. RESULTS: Maternal demandingness during feeding was negatively associated with child BMI z-scores and positively associated with slowness in eating and satiety responsiveness. Maternal responsiveness was associated positively with enjoyment of food and associated negatively with food fussiness. Significant demandingness by responsiveness interactions showed that children of authoritarian mothers showed the highest levels of food fussiness and the lowest enjoyment of food. Overall, the findings were stronger for the self-report than for the observational measures and the variable-centered approach was clearly superior to the person-centered approach. CONCLUSIONS: The current results indicate that for research purposes the variable-centered approach may be the most powerful for examining relationships between maternal feeding and child eating. However, for clinical purposes, the person-centered approach might be most informative.

Stability in the feeding practices and styles of low-income mothers: questionnaire and observational analyses.

BACKGROUND: During the last two decades, researchers have devoted considerable attention to the role of maternal feeding behaviors, practices, and styles in the development of obesity in young children. Little is known, however, about the consistency of maternal feeding across settings and time. The purpose of this paper was to provide data on this issue by examining the consistency of observed maternal feeding behavior across multiple eating occasions, as well as examine the consistency of observed and self-reported maternal feeding behavior across 18 months. METHODS: Videotapes from two studies of low-income mothers and their preschool children were coded for feeding practices, dimensions, and styles: a study of 137 low-income, African American and Latina mothers and their children observed during three meals in their homes over a two to three week period, and a study of 138 low-income, Latina mothers observed during a buffet meal in a laboratory setting on two separate occasions 18 months apart. Videotapes from both studies were coded for a wide range of maternal feeding behaviors and strategies. Mothers in the second study also completed three validated, self-report questionnaires on their feeding practices and styles. RESULTS: Overall, both observed and self-reported feeding practices and styles showed only moderate levels of stability across meals and over time. Maternal attempts to regulate children's eating showed more stability across meals and over time than the content of general mealtime conversation. Also, greater stability was found in what mothers were trying to get their children to do during the meals than in the strategies they used to influence child behavior. Self-reports of feeding showed greater stability over time than observational measures. Across meals and across 18 months, the stability of general feeding styles was between 40% and 50%. CONCLUSIONS: The findings demonstrate that maternal feeding behavior was only moderately stable across meals and over time-that is, feeding behavior varied considerably across situations. The lack of high levels of consistency in feeding behavior suggests that situational factors may play a major role in influencing maternal behavior as well. Family-focused childhood obesity programs should focus not only on helping parents change their feeding practices and styles, but also focus on increasing parents' sensitivity to situational factors that affect their approach to feeding their children.

Competitive resource allocation to metabolic pathways contributes to overflow metabolisms and emergent properties in cross-feeding microbial consortia.

Resource scarcity is a common stress in nature and has a major impact on microbial physiology. This review highlights microbial acclimations to resource scarcity, focusing on resource investment strategies for chemoheterotrophs from the molecular level to the pathway level. Competitive resource allocation strategies often lead to a phenotype known as overflow metabolism; the resulting overflow byproducts can stabilize cooperative interactions in microbial communities and can lead to cross-feeding consortia. These consortia can exhibit emergent properties such as enhanced resource usage and biomass productivity. The literature distilled here draws parallels between in silico and laboratory studies and ties them together with ecological theories to better understand microbial stress responses and mutualistic consortia functioning.

Predicting preschool children's eating in the absence of hunger from maternal pressure to eat: A longitudinal study of low-income, Latina mothers.

Early work by Klesges et al. (1983, 1986) suggested that mothers who frequently prompt their children to eat have children at greater risk for obesity. This is consistent with the hypothesis that controlling feeding practices override children's responsiveness to their internal fullness cues, increasing the risk of overeating and obesity (e.g., Johnson & Birch, 1994). Subsequent cross-sectional research on pressure to eat, however, has been inconsistent. Most studies have shown that maternal self-reports of pressure to eat are negatively associated with childhood obesity, and observational studies showed inconsistent relationships with child weight status. In the present study we examined the association between low-income, Latina mothers' pressure to eat and their preschool children's eating in the absence of hunger using both self-report and observational measures of feeding practices. A longitudinal design examined eating in the absence of hunger over 18 months; children's BMI at the initial timepoint was statistically controlled to address the tendency of mothers of underweight children to pressure their children to eat. At each timepoint, mothers completed the Child Feeding Questionnaire (Birch et al., 2001) and were observed feeding their child a meal in a laboratory setting. Eating in the absence of hunger (Fisher & Birch, 1999) was assessed at both timepoints as well. A cross-lagged panel model showed that observed maternal prompts to eat a different food at time one predicted kcal consumed in the absence of hunger at time two (controlling for kcal consumed in the absence of hunger at first timepoint: beta = 0.20, p < 0.05). Results suggest that pressure to eat alone may not be what contributes to eating in the absence of hunger, but that the nature of that pressure may be more important.

Depressive Symptoms and Perceptions of Child Difficulty Are Associated with Less Responsive Feeding Behaviors in an Observational Study of Low-Income Mothers.

BACKGROUND: Maternal depressive symptoms and perceptions of child difficulty are associated with negative effects on general development and cognitive functioning in children. The study examined associations between maternal depressive symptoms, perceptions of child difficulty, and maternal feeding behaviors in a population at elevated risk for childhood obesity. METHODS: Participants were 138 low-income black and Hispanic mothers and their children (ages 3-5) participating in an observational study of mealtimes among Head Start families. Three dinnertime observations were conducted over 2 weeks on each family and audio/videotaped for coding. Coding included eating influence attempts and other food- and nonfood-related interactions exhibited by the mother during dinner. Mothers completed questionnaires on depressive symptoms and perceptions of child difficulty. Linear regressions were conducted, examining associations between maternal depressive symptoms, perceptions of child difficulty, and coded parent feeding behaviors. RESULTS: Mothers reporting higher levels of depressive symptoms used more verbal pressure to get their child to eat during meals, were more likely to discourage child independence, and less likely to enforce table manners. Mothers reporting higher perceptions of child difficulty were less likely to have nonfood-related discussions during meals and to try to get the child to eat a different food. CONCLUSIONS: This study is one of the first to investigate associations between maternal depression, perceptions of child difficulty, and mother's feeding behaviors during meals using observational methodology. These results may help researchers identify specific parental characteristics and feeding practices on which to intervene when developing tailored intervention programs for reducing childhood obesity.

Emotion regulation strategies and childhood obesity in high risk preschoolers.

The current study examined the relationships between the specific strategies that preschool children use to regulate their emotions and childhood weight status to see if emotion regulation strategies would predict childhood weight status over and above measures of eating self-regulation. 185 4- to 5-year-old Latino children were recruited through Head Start centers in a large city in the southeastern U.S. Children completed both a delay of gratification task (emotion regulation) and an eating in the absence of hunger task (eating regulation). Eating regulation also was assessed by maternal reports. Four emotion regulation strategies were examined in the delay of gratification task: shut out stimuli, prevent movement, distraction, and attention to reward. Hierarchical linear regressions predicting children's weight status showed that both measures of eating regulation negatively predicted child obesity, and the use of prevent movement negatively predicted child obesity. Total wait time during the delay of gratification tasks was not a significant predictor. The current findings are consistent with studies showing that for preschool children, summary measures of emotion regulation (e.g., wait time) are not concurrently associated with child obesity. In contrast, the use of emotion regulation strategies was a significant predictor of lower child weight status. These findings help identify emotion regulation strategies that prevention programs can target for helping children regulate their emotions and decrease their obesity risk.

Strategies for Effective Eating Development-SEEDS: Design of an Obesity Prevention Program to Promote Healthy Food Preferences and Eating Self-Regulation in Children From Low-Income Families.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a scientifically based childhood obesity prevention program supporting child eating self-regulation and taste preferences. This article describes the research methods for the Strategies for Effective Eating Development program. A logic model is provided that depicts a visual presentation of the activities that will be used to guide the development of the prevention program. DESIGN: Randomized, controlled prevention program, pretest, posttest, 6 months, and 12 months. SETTING: Two sites: Houston, TX and Pasco, WA. Each trial will last 7 weeks with 8-10 mother-child dyads in each arm (prevention and control). PARTICIPANTS: Recruitment at Head Start districts (Texas; n = 160) and Inspire Child Development Center including Early Childhood Education and Head Start (Washington; n = 160). Sixteen trials with 16-20 parent-child dyads per trial will provide adequate power to detect moderate effects. INTERVENTION: Multicomponent family-based prevention program incorporating a dialogue approach to adult learning and self-determination theory. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Child assessments will include observed taste preferences, caloric compensation, and eating in the absence of hunger. Parent assessments will include parent-reported feeding, feeding emotions, acculturation, child eating behaviors, child food preferences, and child dietary intake. Heights and weights will be measured for parent and child. ANALYSIS: A multilevel growth modeling analysis will be employed to consider the nested nature of the data: time points (level 1) within families (level 2) within trials (level 3).

Feeding practices of low-income mothers: how do they compare to current recommendations?

BACKGROUND: Despite a growing consensus on the feeding practices associated with healthy eating patterns, few observational studies of maternal feeding practices with young children have been conducted, especially in low-income populations. The aim of this study was to provide such data on a low income sample to determine the degree to which observed maternal feeding practices compare with current recommendations. METHODS: Eighty low-income mothers and their preschool children were videotaped at dinner in their homes. Mothers were chosen from a larger study to create a 2 X 2 X 2 design: maternal ethnicity (African American vs. Latina) by child gender by child weight status (healthy weight vs. overweight/obese). Observers coded videotapes for a range of maternal feeding strategies and other behaviors. RESULTS: Many mothers spent considerable time encouraging eating--often in spite of the child's insistence that he or she was finished. Mothers talked little about food characteristics, rarely referred to feelings of hunger and fullness, and made more attempts to enforce table manners than to teach eating skills. Latina mothers showed higher levels of teaching eating skills and encouraging their children to eat; African American mothers showed higher levels of enforcing table manners and getting children to clear their plates. Mothers of boys used more unelaborated commands and less questions/suggestions than mothers of girls. Finally, compared to mothers of overweight/obese children, mothers of healthy weight children showed higher levels of encouraging eating and lower levels of discouraging eating. CONCLUSIONS: Most of the mothers in this study did not engage in feeding practices that are consistent with current recommendations. They did this, despite the fact that they knew they were being observed. These results should be used to inform future research about the motivations behind mothers' feeding practices and the development of interventions by helping identify areas in greatest need of change.