Laurence J. Nolan

Preference for Sweet Foods and Higher Body Mass Index in Patients Being Treated in Long-Term Methadone Maintenance

Opiate use has been associated with preference for sweets in both humans and animals. In 2002, the food preferences and eating habits of non-institutionalized patients in methadone treatment and controls were measured and compared. Questionnaires were administered to 14 patients and 14 controls with similar demographic characteristics (there were 19 women and 9 men ranging in age from 19 to 59 years). The patients reported higher consumption of sweets, higher eagerness to consume sweet foods, and a wish to consume quantities larger than that desired by controls. Patients had a significantly higher body mass than controls. The studys limitations are noted. These findings suggest a link between methadone and a desire for calorically dense foods. A study of eating behavior is warranted.

Night eating is associated with emotional and external eating in college students

The night eating syndrome (NES) consists of evening hyperphagia and/or nocturnal eating and has been associated with depressed mood that worsens in the evening. However, it is not consistently related to elevated BMI. The present study was conducted to examine whether a relationship exists between NES and emotional, external, and restrained eating. BMI and sleep quality were also obtained. A sample of 246 students completed the Night Eating Diagnostic Questionnaire (NEDQ), Night Eating Syndrome History and Inventory (NESHI), Sleep Quality Index (SQI), and Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), containing subscales for emotional, external, and restrained eating. They also provided demographic information, including height and weight. Participants were grouped by severity of NES features using the NEDQ and NESHI: normal, mild night eater, moderate night eater, and full night eater syndrome. MANOVA was used to compare DEBQ subscores for the groups; those in the full syndrome category had significantly higher emotional eating scores and external eating scores than those in the normal and mild categories. There was no difference in restrained eating between the normal and full syndrome groups. Those with moderate and full syndrome NES symptoms also reported significantly lower sleep quality. No significant relationship was found between NES and BMI. The results show that NES is associated with more eating in response to negative mood and in response to food cues.

The effects of sham feeding-induced sensory specific satiation and food variety on subsequent food intake in humans

Sensory specific satiation (SSS) occurs in the absence of postingestive feedback via use of a modified sham feeding procedure (MSF) which can increase satiety and fullness ratings. In the present experiment, less suppression of food intake after MSF than after eating was predicted. Furthermore, since variety tends to increase food intake, it was hypothesized that SSS to one food would suppress intake of the same food in a subsequent course compared to intake of a different food. 23 participants from the US and UK ate lunch in the laboratory in a repeated measures design with MSF and food variety as factors. In the first course, there were no differences in intake among the conditions. Participants ate less in the second course after eating than after MSF. However, those in the MSF condition consumed less total energy for lunch. Participants ate more in the varied second course than in the same condition. There was no difference in SSS for MSF and eating conditions. Thus, changes in the pleasantness of the taste of the eaten food declined whether that food was sham fed or eaten. There was no interaction between MSF and variety conditions on food intake. The results suggest that while MSF can produce SSS, it does not lower subsequent food intake.

The role of emotional eating and stress in the influence of short sleep on food consumption.

Short sleep duration is associated with elevated body mass index (BMI) and increased energy consumption. The present studies were conducted to determine what role emotional eating and stress might play in these relationships. The first was an exploratory questionnaire study in which sleep quality and duration were measured in conjunction with the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire in 184 women. Emotional and external eating scores were significantly higher in those who reported poor sleep quality (but were not related to sleep duration). In a second study of 64 women who were provided with snacks in the laboratory under stressed and control conditions, elevated food consumption was observed in those who scored high on emotional eating and who reported short sleep (a significant stress × emotional eating × sleep duration interaction) but not in those who reported poor sleep quality. No effects were found in liking or wanting of food and few effects were found on appetite. BMI was not related to sleep duration or sleep quality in either study. The results suggest that the relationship between short sleep and elevated food consumption exists in those who are prone to emotional eating. An external stressor elevated consumption in normal sleepers to the level observed in short sleepers, however, it did not significantly elevate consumption in short sleepers. Future examinations of the effects of sleep duration and quality on food consumption should examine emotional eating status.

Paved with good intentions: Paradoxical eating responses to weight stigma

Because body weight is largely seen as controllable, weight stigma-the social devaluation of those who are overweight-is not subject to the social norms that condemn open expression of racism and sexism. Indeed, rejection of peers based on perceptions of excess weight is normative. Since weight stigma is internalized, popular views (and often the views of physicians) have suggested that increasing the salience of weight stigma might produce a reduction in overeating and/or an increase in physical activity. However, that perspective is not rooted in scientific evidence. Recent randomized controlled designs demonstrate that stigma may promote overeating. Correlational evidence suggests that self-reported stigma experience is associated with risk for binge eating and decreased interest in physical exercise and dieting, for children and adults. In addition to reviewing these research studies, this paper examines the potential for intersectionality of stigma across multiple social identities and considers alternatives to stigmatizing weight loss interventions.

Shared Urges? The Links Between Drugs of Abuse, Eating, and Body Weight

The results of several behavioral and neurophysiological studies suggest that some obese people respond to foods in a manner that resembles the behavior of drug dependent persons toward drugs. Indeed, there are common mechanisms in the brain responsible for the reinforcement of eating and drug use by food and drugs respectively and for the cue incentives associated with them. There is some evidence that dependence in one modality may influence the other. Active drug use is associated with normal (or even low) body weight but recovery from drug dependence may lead to increased consumption of food and ultimately to weight gain. It is possible that drug abstinence leads to incentive seeking in the food domain, increased food consumption, and weight gain. Thus, those in treatment for substance use disorders may benefit from weight maintenance counseling.

Drug use is associated with elevated food consumption in college students.

Higher food consumption, particularly of sweets, has been reported by substance-dependent persons in various stages of treatment but no investigation of substance use and actual food consumption has been conducted in non-dependent persons. Sixty-two male and female college students completed the Core Alcohol and Drug Survey and the amount of each of six snack foods (including both sweet and savory items) they consumed were measured. Participants also rated appetite before and after eating and rated the pleasantness of and desire to eat each food. Hierarchical multivariate regression revealed that, while controlling for the influence of BMI and intermeal interval, frequency and breadth of substance use significantly predicted elevated food consumption and elevated ratings of hunger and desire to eat. Furthermore, the link between breadth of drug use and food consumption was mediated by higher desire to eat and not by pleasantness of the food. The relationship between substance use and eating behavior may not be restricted only to those in recovery or treatment for persons diagnosed with substance use disorders.

Alcohol, Appetite and Loss of Restraint

Alcoholic beverages have long been associated with feasts, celebration and marking special events. Today, it is commonplace to consume alcoholic beverages before, with and/or after a meal. Alcohol provides additional pleasure to the meal and enhances appetite. However, consuming an alcoholic beverage with or before a meal is associated with poor short-term energy compensation; energy from alcohol is additive to total energy intake with the added property of stimulating further eating. Limiting alcohol intake is an obvious means to reduce total energy intake for those who wish to lose weight. However, dieters and restrained eaters drink more and report greater binge drinking than unrestrained eaters despite employing cognitive strategies to reduce their intake. Increased intake may be attributable to greater attentional bias to alcohol related cues as well as to food cues, since these are more salient to those limiting intake. Alcohol increases energy intake in dieters, in part due to abandonment of restraint (disinhibition) and consumption of forbidden items including alcohol exacerbates attempts to resist temptation. Paradoxically, links between binge drinking or increased drinking frequency to overweight and obesity may be mediated by dietary restraint. Efforts to limit food and alcohol intake for weight control appear to be unsuccessful and have the net effect of promoting overconsumption. The potential role of restrained eating in the association between alcohol, appetite and obesity has been overlooked by much of the current research and further investigation of this is therefore warranted.

The relationship between drug use, food neophobia and food addiction

Drug use is associated with eating behaviour. Students with past history of broad drug use ate more in a laboratory snack and reported an elevated desire to eat. In an attempt to find potential mediating psychological variables, exploratory research revealed that high impulsivity is linked to both higher pleasantness of eating foods and consuming alcohol and higher frequency of alcohol use. Those with broader drug use, higher drug consumption, and high enjoyment of intoxication also rated the pleasantness of the taste of foods lower in a questionnaire study. Drug use was not associated with emotional or external eating and dietary restraint (DEBQ). In the present study, a possible link of drug use to food addiction and food neophobia was investigated. Seventy-nine university students (65% women)were administered the FoodNeophobia Scale (FNS), the Food Attitude Survey (FAS), the Yale Food Addiction Scale, Core Alcohol and Drug Survey, and appetite measures. Height and weight were also measured to compute BMI (ranged 18–40). Analyses revealed that breadth of drug use was correlated with lower food neophobia (FNS and FAS), low finickiness (FAS), and low general neophobia. Higher alcohol consumption was also associated with both low food and general neophobia. Food addiction was not related to drug use and BMI was correlated only with food addiction. In multiple regression, wider breadth of drug use emerged as the primary predictor of low neophobia. Low food neophobia and higher drug use have been associated with sensation seeking and it is proposed that it underlies the relationships observed in the present study.