Relationship between body composition, executive functions and self-regulation of eating habits in university students: an analysis with a gender perspective

This study examined the relationships between body composition, executive functions, and self-regulation of eating habits in university students, with a focus on gender differences. Of the 91 participants, a majority were overweight. Men had greater skeletal muscle mass, while women had higher body fat percentages. Greater body fat percentage modestly correlated with poorer performance on memory tasks, while greater skeletal muscle mass correlated negatively with errors and response times on those tasks.

No significant associations were found between self-regulation of eating habits and executive functions. The analysis showed that sex explained only a small amount of the variance in executive function performance, with response times being most affected. Body composition had a modest association with executive functions, particularly completion times of memory tasks.

The researchers suggest that future studies should look at the impact of factors like physical activity, sleep, diet, and stress on these relationships. The study was a cross-sectional analysis with a small sample size, and the findings should be interpreted with caution.