RESUMO
Previous studies suggest that trait disinhibition as measured by the Three Factor eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) is related to selected measures of impulsivity and risk taking. However, the factor validity of the original trait disinhibition measure has been questioned, and a revised scale of uncontrolled eating consequently developed. To date few studies have revisited the relationship between impulsivity and the uncontrolled and emotional eating scales of the revised TFEQ. In the present study, 283 participants (208 women) completed the revised TFEQ alongside a battery of measures of impulsivity and risk taking in an online study. The total and all subscale scores on the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale were significantly associated with scores on the uncontrolled, but not emotional or restrained, TFEQ scale. Likewise, risky behaviour indexed by the average number of pumps per trial on the Balloon Analogue Risk Task were also associated with uncontrolled, but not emotional or restrained, eating, and the same pattern of associations were also found for the novelty, but not intensity, subscales of the Arnetts Inventory of Sensation Seeking. Overall these data suggest that uncontrolled eating is related to wider personality traits of risky decision making, novelty seeking and wider cognitive impulsivity, which may in turn increase of future weight gain.
Assuntos
Comportamento Exploratório , Aumento de Peso , Humanos , Feminino , Inquéritos e Questionários , Assunção de Riscos , Emoções , Comportamento Alimentar/psicologia , Ingestão de Alimentos/psicologiaRESUMO
Hunger refers to (1) the meaning of certain bodily sensations; (2) a mental state of anticipation that food will be good to eat; and (3) an organizing principal, which prioritizes feeding. Definitions (1) and (2) are the focus here, as (3) can be considered their consequent. Definition (1) has been linked to energy-depletion models of hunger, but these are no longer thought viable. Definition (2) has been linked to learning and memory (L&M) models of hunger, but these apply just to palatable foods. Nonetheless, L&M probably forms the basis for hunger generally, as damage to declarative memory can eradicate the experience of hunger. Currently, there is no general L&M model of hunger, little understanding of how physiology intersects with a L&M approach, and no understanding of how Definitions (1) and (2) are related. We present a new L&M model of human hunger. People learn associations between internal (e.g., tummy rumbles) and external cues (e.g., brand names) and food. These associations can be to specific foods (episodic memories) or food-related categories (semantic memories). When a cue is encountered, it may lead to food-related memory retrieval. If retrieval occurs, the memory's affective content allows one to know if food will be good to eat now-hunger-a cognitive operation learned in childhood. These memory processes are acutely inhibited during satiety, and chronically by multiple biological parameters, allowing physiology to modulate hunger. Implications are considered for the process of making hunger judgments, thirst, the cephalic phase response, and motivational and lay theories of hunger. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
Assuntos
Fome , Sede , Humanos , Fome/fisiologia , Sede/fisiologia , Memória/fisiologia , Motivação , Sinais (Psicologia)RESUMO
The vicious cycle model of obesity suggests that repeated habitual intake of a diet high in fat and sugar (HFS) results in impairment in hippocampal function which in turn increases impulsive behaviours, making it harder to resist unhealthy diet choices. Evidence from studies with rodents consistently show switching to a HFS diet impairs performance on hippocampally-sensitive memory tasks. The limited literature in humans also suggest impaired memory and increased impulsivity related to higher habitual HFS intake. However, these changes in memory and impulsivity have been looked at independently. To investigate how these effects are inter-related, three experiments were conducted where relative HFS intake was related to measures of memory and impulsivity. In Experiment 1 (90 female participants), HFS was associated with higher scores on the Everyday Memory Questionnaire-revised (EMQ), and higher scores on the total, Attention (BISatt) and Motor (BISmot) sub-scales of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS11). Experiment 2 (84 women and 35 men), replicated the association between HFS and EMQ, and also found HFS related to poorer performance on the hippocampally-sensitive 4 mountain (4MT) memory task. The association between HFS intake and the BISatt replicated, but there were no significant associations with other BIS11 measures or delay-discounting for monetary rewards. Experiment 3 (199 women and 87 men) replicated the associations between DFS and 4MT and EMQ, and also found an association with overall recall, but not response inhibition, from a Remembering Causes Forgetting task: HFS was also significantly associated with BIS total, BISatt and BISmot. In all three studies these associations remained when potential confounds (BMI, age, gender, hunger state, restrained and disinhibited eating) were controlled for. Mediation analysis found that the effect of HFS on memory at least part mediated the relationship between HFS and impulsivity in Experiments 1 and 3, but not 2. Overall these data provide some support for the vicious cycle model, but also suggest that trait impulsivity may be a risk factor for poor dietary choice.
Assuntos
Comportamento Impulsivo , Açúcares , Masculino , Humanos , Feminino , Transtornos da Memória , Dieta Hiperlipídica , HipocampoRESUMO
People report wanting food when they are hungry, and on eating it they typically report liking the experience. After eating, both wanting and liking decline, but wanting declines to a greater extent, which we term the 'affective discrepancy effect'. In this study we examine the predictors - state, sensory and memory-based - of these affective changes. Hungry participants undertook three tasks: (1) written recollections of what certain foods are like to eat; (2) ratings of wanting and expected flavour liking and fillingness when looking at snacks, and ratings of food and flavour liking when eating them; (3) ratings of bodily state. These tasks were then repeated after lunch. State-based changes in food liking were best predicted by changes in flavour liking. For state-based change in wanting, memory-based information about flavour liking and fillingness from tasks (1) and (2) were all significant predictors. For recollections about eating (task 1), mentions of food fillingness significantly increased pre-to post-lunch and this was the best predictor of the affective discrepancy effect. Recollections of food fillingness are state-dependent, and can arise unbidden (i.e., such recollective content was unprompted). This may reflect one way that memory may selectively influence wanting, and hence whether food intake is initiated or not.
Assuntos
Preferências Alimentares , Fome , Humanos , Preferências Alimentares/psicologia , Emoções , Paladar , Lanches , RecompensaRESUMO
Past research has identified distinct phenotypic differences in responses to sweet taste, although the origins of these differences remain unclear. One possibility is that these individual differences in sweet-liking are a manifestation of the more widely known differences in sensitivity to the bitter tastant 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP), which has been related to wider differences in food liking and preference. However, previous studies exploring the relationship between sweet-liking and PROP-tasting have had mixed outcomes. This is possibly due to older studies using a more simplistic dichotic characterisation of sweet likers, whereas recent research suggests three sweet-liking phenotypes (extreme sweet likers, ESL; moderate sweet likers, MSL; and sweet dislikers, SD). To re-assess how sweet-liking and PROP tasting are inter-related, 236 volunteers evaluated their liking for 1.0 M sucrose and the intensity of three concentrations of each NaCl and PROP. Using three different methods for classifying PROP taster status, our analysis confirmed that all three sweet-liking phenotypes were represented in all three PROP taster groups (super-tasters, ST; medium tasters, MT; and non-tasters, NT), but relatively few ESL were classified as ST, or SD as NT. Overall, these data suggest that while PROP tasting and sweet-liking are not causally related, the SD phenotype may partly be explained by a broader tendency for anhedonia.
Assuntos
Propiltiouracila , Paladar , Emoções , Preferências Alimentares/fisiologia , Humanos , Cloreto de Sódio , Sacarose , Paladar/fisiologiaRESUMO
Most studies that examine responses to food cues use images of actual foods as stimuli. Since foods are rewarding in multiple ways, it then becomes difficult to try and partial out the role of the importance of different aspects of food reward. Here we aimed to evaluate the impact of novel visual cues specifically associated with the immediate sensory reward from a liked sweet taste. In the training phase, one visual cue (CSsweet) was associated with the experience of sweet taste (10%sucrose) and a second, control cue (CSneutral) with a neutral taste (artificial saliva) using a disguised training procedure. In Experiment 1, participants (n = 45) were given an ad libitum snack intake test 30 min post-training, either labelled with CSsweet or CSneutral. Total caloric consumption was significantly higher in the CSsweet (650 ± 47 kcal) than CSneutral (477 ± 45 kcal) condition, but ratings of liking for the snacks did not differ significantly between conditions. In Experiment 2, participants (n = 80) exhibited an overall attentional bias (22.1 ± 9.9 ms) for the CSsweet relative to CSneutral cue (assessed using a dot-probe task), however rated liking for the CSsweet did not change significantly after cue-sweet training. Likewise, measures of expected satiety for drinks labelled with CSsweet did not differ significantly from CSneutral. Overall these two experiments provide evidence that associations between neutral visual cues and the experience of a liked sweet taste leads to cue-potentiated eating in the presence of the CSsweet cue. With no evidence that cue-sweet training altered rated liking for the visual cues, and in keeping with extant literature on the dissociation of hedonic and rewarding properties of food rewards, we propose this potentiation effect to reflect increased incentive salience.
Assuntos
Sinais (Psicologia) , Paladar , Atenção , Ingestão de Alimentos , Preferências Alimentares , Voluntários Saudáveis , Humanos , LanchesRESUMO
There are well known phenotypic differences in sweet-liking across individuals, but it remains unknown whether these are related to broader underlying differences in interoceptive abilities (abilities to sense the internal state of the body). Here, healthy women (N = 64) classified as sweet likers (SLs) or sweet dislikers (SDs) completed a bimodal interoception protocol. A heartbeat tracking and a heartbeat discrimination task determined cardiac interoception; both were accompanied by confidence ratings. A water load task, where participants consumed water to satiation and then to maximum fullness was used to assess gastric interoceptive abilities. Motivational state, psychometric characteristics and eating behaviour were also assessed. SLs performed significantly better than SDs on both heartbeat tasks, independently of impulsivity, anxiety, depression, and alexithymia. No differences in metacognitive awareness and subjective interoceptive measures were found. With gastric interoception, SLs were more sensitive to stomach distention, and they ingested less water than SDs to reach satiety when accounting for stomach capacity. SLs also scored higher on mindful and intuitive eating scales and on emotional eating particularly in response to negative stimuli; emotional overeating was fully mediated via interoceptive performance. Overall, our data suggest the SL phenotype may reflect enhanced responsiveness to internal cues more broadly.
Assuntos
Interocepção , Conscientização , Emoções , Comportamento Alimentar , Feminino , Frequência Cardíaca , Humanos , SaciaçãoRESUMO
Building on a series of recent studies that challenge the universality of sweet liking, here we review the evidence for multiple sweet-liking phenotypes which strongly suggest, humans fall into three hedonic response patterns: extreme sweet likers (ESL), where liking increases with sweetness, moderate sweet likers (MSL), who like moderate but not intense sweetness, and sweet dislikers (SD), who show increasing aversion as sweetness increases. This review contrasts how these phenotypes differ in body size and composition, dietary intake and behavioural measures to test the widely held view that sweet liking may be a key driver of obesity. Apart from increased consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in ESL, we found no clear evidence that sweet liking was associated with obesity and actually found some evidence that SD, rather than ESL, may have slightly higher body fat. We conclude that ESL may have heightened awareness of internal appetite cues that could protect against overconsumption and increased sensitivity to wider reward. We note many gaps in knowledge and the need for future studies to contrast these phenotypes in terms of genetics, neural processing of reward and broader measures of behaviour. There is also the need for more extensive longitudinal studies to determine the extent to which these phenotypes are modified by exposure to sweet stimuli in the context of the obesogenic environment.
Assuntos
Preferências Alimentares , Paladar , Humanos , Obesidade , Fenótipo , Percepção GustatóriaRESUMO
This systematic review with meta-analyses aimed to identify the sensory and physical characteristics of foods/beverages which increase satiation and/or decrease/delay subsequent consumption without affecting acceptability. Systematic searches were first undertaken to identify review articles investigating the effects of any sensory and physical food characteristic on food intake. These articles provided some evidence that various textural parameters (aeration, hardness, homogeneity, viscosity, physical form, added water) can impact food intake. Individual studies investigating these effects while also investigating acceptability were then assessed. Thirty-seven individual studies investigated a textural manipulation and provided results on food intake and acceptability, 13 studies (27 comparisons, 898 participants) investigated effects on satiation, and 29 studies (54 comparisons, 916 participants) investigated effects on subsequent intake. Meta-analyses of within-subjects comparisons (random-effects models) demonstrated greater satiation (less weight consumed) from food products that were harder, chunkier, more viscous, voluminous, and/or solid, while demonstrating no effects on acceptability. Textural parameters had limited effects on subsequent consumption. Between-subjects studies and sensitivity analyses confirmed these results. These findings provide some evidence that textural parameters can increase satiation without affecting acceptability. The development of harder, chunkier, more viscous, voluminous, and/or solid food/beverage products may be of value in reducing overconsumption.
Assuntos
Ingestão de Alimentos , Ingestão de Energia , Alimentos , Preferências Alimentares , Humanos , SaciaçãoRESUMO
Taste hedonics drive food choices, and food choices affect weight maintenance. Despite this, the idea that hyper-palatability of sweet foods is linked to obesity development has been controversial for decades. Here, we investigate whether interpersonal differences in sweet-liking are related to body composition. Healthy adults aged 18-34 years from the UK (n = 148) and the US (n = 126) completed laboratory-based sensory tests (sucrose taste tests) and anthropometric measures (body mass index; BMI, body fat; fat-free mass; FFM, waist/hips circumferences). Habitual beverage intake and lifestyle and behavioural characteristics were also assessed. Using hierarchical cluster analysis, we classified participants into three phenotypes: sweet liker (SL), sweet disliker (SD), and inverted-U (liking for moderate sweetness). Being a SD was linked to higher body fat among those younger than 21 years old, while in the older group, SLs had the highest BMI and FFM; age groups reflected different levels of exposure to the obesogenic environment. FFM emerged as a better predictor of sweet-liking than BMI and body fat. In the older group, sweetened beverage intake partially explained the phenotype-anthropometry associations. Collectively, our findings implicate underlying energy needs as an explanation for the variation in sweet-liking; the moderating roles of age and obesogenic environment require additional consideration.
Assuntos
Fatores Etários , Composição Corporal , Açúcares da Dieta/análise , Preferências Alimentares/fisiologia , Paladar , Tecido Adiposo , Adolescente , Adulto , Antropometria , Índice de Massa Corporal , Análise por Conglomerados , Feminino , Voluntários Saudáveis , Humanos , Estilo de Vida , Masculino , Obesidade/psicologia , Filosofia , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Hedonic contrast describes how liking for one item is influenced by the recent experience of other items which differ in hedonic valence. In the context of food stimuli, there is abundant evidence that hedonic contrast alters liking, but limited information on its impact on intake, and the aim here was to further clarify how hedonic impact modifies intake. Participants (96 female volunteers) rated and consumed ad libitum a sequence of four bowls of a snack (potato crisps) in one of three conditions. In the Palatable (salted crisps) and Bland (unsalted crisps) conditions, all four bowls were the same. In the Contrast condition participants alternated between salted and unsalted crisps. In total, significantly more was consumed in the Palatable (35.0 ± 2.6 g) than Bland (26.6 ± 2.4 g) condition, but most was consumed in the Contrast condition (37.0 ± 1.6 g). The impact of hedonic contrast was seen in the third serving, where those in the Contrast condition consumed the most of any serving, and significantly more than in Palatable or Bland conditions, and at the final serving, when those in the Contrast condition consumed significantly less than in Bland or Palatable conditions. Rated liking for the foods showed a similar pattern, with liking decreasing across servings in Palatable and Bland conditions. However, liking was influenced by the preceding serving in the Contrast condition, and the change in liking produced by contrast predicted subsequent intake. Overall, these data provide clear evidence that hedonic contrast can influence consumption, with intake driven by this adjusted liking.
Assuntos
Apetite , Paladar , Ingestão de Alimentos , Feminino , Alimentos , Preferências Alimentares , HumanosRESUMO
Selective attention research has shown that when perceptual demand is high, unattended sensory information is filtered out at early stages of processing. We investigated for the first time whether the sensory and nutrient cues associated with becoming full (satiety) would be filtered out in a similar manner. One-hundred and twenty participants consumed either a low-satiety (75 kcal) or high-satiety (272 kcal plus thicker texture) beverage, delivered via an intra-oral infusion device while participants simultaneously completed a task which was either low or high in perceptual demand. Among participants who performed the low perceptual load task, ingestion of the high-satiety beverage increased rated satiety and reduced consumption at a subsequent snack test. However, both effects were eliminated by the high perceptual load task. Therefore, the processing of satiety cues was dependent on the availability of attention, identifying a novel perceptual load mechanism of inattentive eating and supporting more recent cognitive models of appetite control.
Assuntos
Apetite , Sinais (Psicologia) , Regulação do Apetite , Ingestão de Alimentos , Ingestão de Energia , Saciação , Resposta de SaciedadeRESUMO
The way we process rewarding stimuli is widely held to play a key role in normal and abnormal behavior. Biased processing of food-arguably the most primal form of reward-has been strongly implicated in the obesity crisis. Paradoxically, however, existing evidence suggests that both too much and too little attention can potentially lead to overeating. Here we sought to explain this contradiction within the framework of the load theory of attention, while also elucidating the relatively understudied role of memory biases. In 3 experiments, we presented food and nonfood images as irrelevant distractors during a letter search task with high and low levels of perceptual load, followed by a forced choice recognition task. As predicted, increasing perceptual load consistently powerfully reduced distraction by food and nonfood images alike. Similarly, food images encountered under high perceptual load were less likely to be recognized in a surprise memory test. Unexpectedly, however, there was a striking absence of attentional bias to food above and beyond salient nonfood stimuli, either within-subjects or in relation to traits implicated in food-biases. By contrast, a food memory bias was consistently observed across participants, and appeared independent of attentional biases. Food memory was consistently heightened in individuals with high levels of trait disinhibition (a measure of opportunistic eating). Our findings suggest that attention and memory for food and nonfood are similarly impacted by perceptual load. We discuss implications of the load theory framework for the wider literature on food-related cognition and for real world eating behaviors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Assuntos
Cognição/fisiologia , Sinais (Psicologia) , Alimentos , Memória de Curto Prazo/fisiologia , Estimulação Luminosa/métodos , Recompensa , Adolescente , Adulto , Viés de Atenção/fisiologia , Feminino , Humanos , Reprodutibilidade dos Testes , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Intrusive thoughts about food can trigger cravings and result in unhealthy eating behaviour. Here we tested whether Load Theory of attention can be applied to the eating behaviour literature and reduce intrusive appetitive-related thoughts. Load Theory predicts that high levels of perceptual load in a task exhaust attentional capacity and so reduces interference from a range of stimuli, including intrusive thoughts. Therefore, this study aimed to test whether perceptual load reduced appetitive-related intrusive thoughts about chocolate. Sixty female participants were first given a chocolate bar to interact with for 2 min, before rating their levels of hunger, craving and liking for chocolate. They were then asked to avoid thinking about chocolate and instead focus attention on a visual search task. Perceptual load was manipulated within-subjects by varying the search set size. Appetitive-related thoughts were measured using both self-caught and probe-caught measures, allowing us to index load effects at varying levels of meta-awareness. Across subjects, the level of appetitive-related thoughts seen in the high load condition was significantly reduced, to less than half the level seen in the low load condition, on both probe and self-caught measures. Furthermore, self-reported hunger, craving and liking for the chocolate were positively correlated with appetitive-related thoughts under low load, but high perceptual load eliminated these state individual differences. Therefore, engaging in perceptually demanding tasks may be a worthwhile strategy for those wanting to disrupt the cycle of craving at the earliest stage.
Assuntos
Chocolate , Fissura , Cacau , Comportamento Alimentar , Humanos , FomeRESUMO
Animals fed a Western-style diet (WS-diet) demonstrate rapid impairments in hippocampal function and poorer appetitive control. We examined if this also occurs in humans. One-hundred and ten healthy lean adults were randomized to either a one-week WS-diet intervention or a habitual-diet control group. Measures of hippocampal-dependent learning and memory (HDLM) and of appetitive control were obtained pre- and post-intervention. HDLM was retested at three-week follow-up. Relative to controls, HDLM performance declined in the WS-diet group (d = 0.43), but was not different at follow-up. Appetitive control also declined in the WS-diet group (d = 0.47) and this was strongly correlated with HDLM decline (d = 1.01). These findings demonstrate that a WS-diet can rapidly impair appetitive control in humans-an effect that could promote overeating in consumers of a WS-diet. The study also suggests a functional role for the hippocampus in appetitive control and provides new evidence for the adverse neurocognitive effects of a WS-diet.
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Taste hedonics is a well-documented driver of food consumption. The role of sweetness in directing ingestive behavior is largely rooted in biology. One can then intuit that individual differences in sweet-liking may constitute an indicator of variations in the susceptibility to diet-related health outcomes. Despite half a century of research on sweet-liking, the best method to identify the distinct responses to sweet taste is still debated. To help resolve this issue, liking and intensity ratings for eight sucrose solutions ranging from 0 to 1 M were collected from 148 young adults (29% men). Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) revealed three response patterns: a sweet-liker (SL) phenotype characterized by a rise in liking as concentration increased, an inverted U-shaped phenotype with maximum liking at 0.25 M, and a sweet-disliker (SD) phenotype characterized by a decline in liking as a function of concentration. Based on sensitivity and specificity analyses, present data suggest the clearest discrimination between phenotypes is seen with 1.0 M sucrose, where a liking rating between -15 and +15 on a -50/+50 scale reliably distinguished individuals with an inverted U-shaped response from the SLs and the SDs. If the efficacy of this approach is confirmed in other populations, the discrimination criteria identified here can serve as the basis for a standard method for classifying sweet taste liker phenotypes in adults.
Assuntos
Preferências Alimentares , Fenótipo , Prazer , Sacarose , Paladar , Adulto , Dieta , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Prazer/classificação , Percepção Gustatória , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Prior research has shown that consumers have clear and measurable expectations about the likely effects of food and drink items on their appetite and thirst, which are acquired with experience and influenced by a product's taste and texture. What is unclear is whether expression of these expectations also varies with current appetitive state. It is possible that current appetite could increase or decrease the relevance of these expectations for future food choice and magnify a product's expected impact on appetite. To test this, we contrasted expectations about satiety and thirst for four products consumed 2 h after an appetite manipulation at breakfast, achieved through ad libitum access to low-energy drinks only (hunger condition), cereal only but no drinks (thirst condition) or both foods and drinks (sated condition). The test products were two soups and two drinks, with a thicker and thinner version of each product type to act as positive control to ensure sensitivity in detecting differences in expectations. For satiety, the predicted differences between products were seen: soups and thicker products were expected to be more filling and to suppress subsequent hunger more than drinks and thinner products, but these differences were more pronounced in the hunger than thirsty or sated conditions. Being thirsty also enhanced expectations of how much drinks would appease immediate thirst. Overall the data show that expectations were adjusted subtly by a person's current appetitive state, suggesting that we have mechanisms that highlight the most important features of a product at the time when it may be most beneficial to the consumer.
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Associations between flavours and the consequences of ingestion can lead to changes in flavour liking depending on nutrient content, an example of flavour-nutrient learning (FNL). Expectations about the consequences of ingestion can be modified by information at the point of ingestion, such as nutritional labelling. What is unknown is the extent to which these label-based expectations modify FNL. Since nutrient information can alter expectations about how filling a product would be, we hypothesised that labels predicting higher energy (HE) content would enhance satiety and so promote more rapid flavour learning. To test this, participants consumed either a lower energy (LE: 164 kcal) or HE (330 kcal) yoghurt breakfast on four separate days, either with no product label or with labels displaying either the actual energy content (Congruent label) or inaccurate energy (Incongruent label). Participants rated liking on all four days: on Days 1 and 4, they could also consume as much as they liked, but consumed a fixed amount (300 g) on Days 2 and 3. Both liking and intake increased with exposure in the HE, and decreased in the LE, condition when unlabelled in line with FNL. In contrast, no significant changes were seen in either the Congruent or Incongruent label conditions. Contrary to predictions, these data suggest that FNL occurs when there is an absence of explicit expectations of actual nutrient content, with both accurate and inaccurate information on nutrient content disrupting learning.
Assuntos
Aprendizagem por Associação/fisiologia , Metabolismo Energético/fisiologia , Preferências Alimentares , Conhecimento , Recompensa , Paladar/fisiologia , Adolescente , Adulto , Análise de Variância , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Estimulação Luminosa , Fatores de Tempo , Escala Visual Analógica , Adulto JovemRESUMO
Eating while watching TV has generally been found to increase both immediate and delayed energy intake. Here we examine two factors - gender and habitual processed-food intake - that may moderate these effects. Participants [n = 153; 95 women, 58 men; Mage = 19.7 (SD = 2.9); MBMI = 22.4 (SD = 3.1)] ate an ad libitum snack either with or without TV, followed around 1 h later by lunch. There was an interaction between TV and gender for both meals. Women tended to consume more snack food in the TV condition, with men consuming more in the no-TV condition. Participants who habitually consumed more processed food also ate more snacks, independent of any other variable, including rated liking. At lunch, men who had earlier snacked with TV ate more than men who had snacked without TV, but this effect was not evident in women. On memory recall, all participants underestimated how much snack food they had eaten, and this was a function of how much they had actually consumed, with greater error only predicted by greater consumption. The results indicate that the effects of TV on eating can vary with gender and that processed-food history can predict snack food intake. While previous findings suggest memory of prior-intake may be impaired by eating while watching TV, the current results suggest this is not necessarily because of TV per se, but because people sometimes consume more food under such conditions.
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Post-ingestive signals related to nutrient metabolism are thought to be the primary drivers of reinforcement potency of energy sources. Here, in a series of neuroimaging and indirect calorimetry human studies, we examine the relative roles of caloric load and perceived sweetness in driving metabolic, perceptual, and brain responses to sugared beverages. Whereas caloric load was manipulated using the tasteless carbohydrate maltodextrin, sweetness levels were manipulated using the non-nutritive sweetener sucralose. By formulating beverages that contain different amounts of maltodextrin+sucralose, we demonstrate a non-linear association between caloric load, metabolic response, and reinforcement potency, which is driven in part by the extent to which sweetness is proportional to caloric load. In particular, we show that (1) lower-calorie beverages can produce greater metabolic response and condition greater brain response and liking than higher-calorie beverages and (2) when sweetness is proportional to caloric load, greater metabolic responses are observed. These results demonstrate a non-linear association between caloric load and reward and describe an unanticipated role for sweet taste in regulating carbohydrate metabolism, revealing a novel mechanism by which sugar-sweetened beverages influence physiological responses to carbohydrate ingestion.