Emotional Eating

PET studies have provided mixed evidence regarding central D2/D3 dopamine receptor binding and its relationship with obesity as measured by body mass index (BMI). Other aspects of obesity may be more tightly coupled to the dopaminergic system. We characterized obesity-associated behaviors and determined if these related to central D2 receptor (D2R) specific binding independent of BMI. Twenty-two obese and 17 normal-weight participants completed eating- and reward-related questionnaires and underwent PET scans using the D2R-selective and nondisplaceable radioligand (N-[(11)C]methyl)benperidol. Questionnaires were grouped by domain (eating related to emotion, eating related to reward, non-eating behavior motivated by reward or sensitivity to punishment). Normalized, summed scores for each domain were compared between obese and normal-weight groups and correlated with striatal and midbrain D2R binding. Compared to normal-weight individuals, the obese group self-reported higher rates of...

This study aimed to determine whether emotional eating (EE) and uncontrolled eating (UCE) scores affect the metabolic risk factors in obese adolescents. Methods: A sample of 100 adolescents have BMI-SDS between 1.41 and 2.83 (aged 12-17 years) was selected. EE and UCE scores were estimated using the TFEQ21. The association of EE and UCE with anthropometric data, lipid profile, glucose profile, liver enzymes, and inflammation factors was assessed in boys and girls.

This research aims to focus on eating behavior of adolescent women living in Azerbaijan. It aims to figure out what exactly shapes it and on which factors it depends in order to be able to consider the possibility of changing it to the better healthier side.
Data for the research is obtained from the deep interviews from experts: highly professional nutritioners, dietologists, trainers on one side and carefully caring about their nutrition women on the another. During the deep interview it was investigated that all these women has up-medium/ high income, at least bachelors degree and interest in sport from the very childhood, and this lead to an assumptions about the main factors shaping the Healthy Eating behavior as a key to a better quality of life.
On the basis of these assumptions and Three Factor Eating Questionnaire there was conducted an online survey amist the 426 azerbaijani women in the age of 20-53 with different lifestyle and body mass indexes, income and education levels, both married and single.
And all in all, the study also has a purpose of identifying the influence of media idols on women self-assessment, determination of outcomes of setting high beauty standards and figuring out whether this media tactic really works to make women better or just a rat race over the unattainable ideals which is ending up just with the stress  body dissatisfaction for an average woman?

Grazing, or the uncontrolled, repetitive eating of small amounts of food is being increasingly recognised as an important eating behaviour associated with obesity. In spite of the need for a better understanding of this eating behaviour for improved obesity treatment, currently there is no empirically validated self-report measure to  assess grazing. Therefore, to contribute to a better understanding of this relatively understudied eating pattern, a new self-report questionnaire of grazing was developed in this study. Questionnaire items were designed to reflect previous empirical descriptions of grazing. A group of 248 university students completed the Grazing Questionnaire, other measures of eating related behaviours and cognitions, and negative emotion. Sixty-two participants completed the Grazing Questionnaire a second time to calculate its temporal stability. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a clear two-factor solution for the questionnaire, reflecting repetitive eating behaviour and a perception of loss of control. Scores on the Grazing Questionnaire were positively associated with other measures of disordered eating, especially with binge eating. Initial psychometric properties of the new questionnaire are promising. Future research is now needed to examine the prevalence of this eating behaviour in more diverse populations, including those with binge eating disorder and obesity.

Type A and B behavioural patterns have been getting more reach to understand personality in a more 'black and white' construct. Eating in response to an emotional state could have an impact based on these constructs. In fact, there has been evidence that emotional dispositions are part of personality (Pervin, 1975). The present study aims to examine whether and which of the types of personality, with respect to Type A and Type B behaviour patterns influence emotional eating in adult males and females via a comparative and descriptive study. The objectives were to determine the significant relationship between Type A and the Emotional Eating dimensions-Anger, Anxiety, Depression and Positive Emotions, significant relationship between Type B and the Emotional Eating dimensions-Anger, Anxiety, Depression and Positive Emotions, the significant difference in emotional eating between the adult males and females, compare the males and females of the sample for Type A and Type B personality and finally to find out whether Type A and Type B differ with respect to levels of emotional eating. The Emotional Eating Scale (EES) was administered on 31 Type A and 32 Type B personality patterning individuals (N = 63) in Chennai. Pearson's Correlation, Independent Sample Mann U Whitney Test and Independent Sample t-test were used with the help of statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) Version 21.

Background: Negative affect is shown consistently to promote unhealthy food choices and dietary intake in laboratory studies. However, this relationship in naturalistic settings is less clear and previous research is limited by dietary assessment methodology and neglects to account for several important moderating variables. This observational study aimed to examine the association of negative affect and other psychological factors associated with eating behaviour simultaneously with discretionary energy intake and total energy intake, and whether these were moderated by emotional eating predisposition or age, sex and weight status. Methods: One hundred adults completed a four-day food diary, a concurrent end-of-day questionnaire that assessed daily affect and experience of appetite, and the Three Factor Eating Questionnaire to assess trait eating behaviour. Food diaries provided data on participants' daily intake of total energy and of "discretionary items" (specific energy-dense and nutrient poor foods and beverages as defined by the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating). Stepwise random effects models were used to estimate the association of end-of-day ratings, trait eating behaviour and personal factors, and their interactions, with discretionary and total energy intake. Results: Daily rated negative affect and appetite were significantly and positively associated with discretionary intake, such that a one unit increase in each scale was associated with eating 139 kJ/d [SE 61] and 194 kJ/d [SE 68] more discretionary energy, respectively. Negative affect and its interaction with emotional eating were consistently, positively associated with discretionary energy intake. This relationship was strongest in younger participants (β = −4.9 [SE 2.2], p < .05). There was no interaction with sex or weight status. Total energy intake was not associated with negative affect nor its interaction with emotional eating but was consistently associated with appetite. Conclusion: When personal factors (age, sex, BMI), trait eating behaviours and daily rated negative affect and appetite are considered simultaneously, daily discretionary intake is associated most strongly with negative affect. Individuals, particularly young adults, may be more likely to overeat discretionary energy on days that negative affect is rated more highly. However, this may not necessarily translate into greater total energy intake which was most consistently associated with daily rated appetite.

Objective: This study investigated the daily hassles-eating behavior relationship and its moderators in a naturalistic setting. Design: A multilevel diary design was used to examine day-to-day within-person effects of daily hassles on eating behavior (N ϭ 422), together with the individual and simultaneous influence of potential moderating variables. Main Outcome Measures: Daily diary reports of betweenmeal snacking, fruit and vegetable consumption and perceived variations in daily food intake. Results:

Objective: This study investigated the daily hassles-eating behavior relationship and its moderators in a naturalistic setting. Design: A multilevel diary design was used to examine day-to-day within-person effects of daily hassles on eating behavior (N ϭ 422), together with the individual and simultaneous influence of potential moderating variables. Main Outcome Measures: Daily diary reports of betweenmeal snacking, fruit and vegetable consumption and perceived variations in daily food intake. Results:

The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ) contains three scales which assess emotional, external and restrained eating styles that may contribute to or attenuate the development of overweight. The main goal of this study was to adapt and investigate the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the DEBQ. A sample of 785 Polish adults answered the questionnaire. Confirmatory Factor Analyses were used to evaluate the factor structure of the DEBQ. Next, the measurement invariance of the DEBQ across gender and BMI-status was assessed. Reliabilities were estimated with Cronbach's alpha and 4-week retest. Additionally, the convergent validity of the DEBQ was examined with the Eating Attitude Test-26 (EAT-26), assessing individ-uals' attitudes towards eating behaviours and eating disorders. The results showed that the internal structure was similar to the theoretical proposal. It indicated that the three-factor structure had the best fit to the data, and this dimensional structure proved to be invariant across sex and BMI-status. The reliability estimates were satisfactory (all ≥ .70). Finally, convergent validity of the DEBQ was supported by significant relationships of its subscales to measures of the EAT-26. The DEBQ presented high cross-language replicability and seems to be an effective instrument for research in Polish adults.

DOI 10.1007/s12144-019-00186-0

The present study aimed to investigate the psychological determinants of emotional eating in a national and international sample of healthy weight, overweight and obese adults (N = 226). Specifically, attachment styles, psychopathological symptom distress and love attitudes were explored for their ability to predict emotional eating. Findings supported the suggestion symptom distress may particularly predispose individuals to engaging in emotionally motivated overeating, with a large effect size observed. Preoccupied attachment was also a significant predictor of emotion eating, even after controlling for state-based inferences. However, there were no significant contributions of secure, fearful-avoidant, or dismissiveavoidant attachment style in the prediction of emotional eating. Similarly, none of the five primary love languages (e.g., words of affirmation, physical touch, receiving gifts and physical touch) accounted for a significant amount of variance in emotional eating. A mediating role of perceived hunger in the prediction of emotional eating from attachment-anxiety was also observed. Contributions and limitations of the present study, as well as recommendations for future research are also discussed.

Irrational beliefs (IB) are believed, in cognitive behavioral therapies, to be a prime cause of psychopathologies including anxiety, depression, problem eating, and alcohol misuse. “Food addiction” (FA), which has been modeled on diagnostic criteria for substance use disorder, and emotional eating (EE) have both been implicated in the rise in overweight and obesity. Both FA and EE are associated with anxiety. Thus, in the present study, the hypothesis that IB is associated with FA and with EE was tested. Furthermore, possible mediation of these relationships by trait anxiety and depression (and EE for IB and FA) was examined. The responses of 239 adult participants to questionnaires measuring FA, IB, EE, depression, trait anxiety, and anthropometrics were recorded. The results revealed that IB was significantly positively correlated with FA and EE (and depression and trait anxiety). Furthermore, only EE mediated the effect of IB on FA and this was not moderated by BMI. Finally, trait anxiety (but not depression) mediated the effect of IB on EE. Exploratory analysis revealed a significant serial mediation such that IB predicted higher FA via elevated trait anxiety and emotional eating in that order. The results of this study suggest that IB may be a source of the anxiety that is associated with EE and FA and suggest that clinicians may find IB a target for treatment of those persons who report experiences of EE and FA. IB may play a role in food misuse that leads to elevated BMI.

Many people eat unhealthy foods that are high in calories, fat, or sugar when feeling stressed, yet little is known about whether this unhealthy comfort eating actually comforts. Additionally, prior research has not tested whether healthy comfort eating of fruits and vegetables might also alleviate stress, or whether comfort eating during the stress anticipation phase versus immediately after a stressful event is more beneficial for stress relief. The present experiment tested whether unhealthy and healthy comfort eating reduce acute psychophysiological responses to a socially evaluative stressor. Participants (N = 150 healthy women) underwent the Trier Social Stress Test in the lab and were randomly assigned to one of five conditions according to a 2 (food type: unhealthy vs. healthy) x 2 (eating timing: during stress anticipation vs. after the stressor) + 1 (no food control) between-subjects design. Stress outcomes included mood, cognitive appraisals, rumination, salivary cortisol, heart rate variability, and pre-ejection period. Unhealthy and healthy comfort eating did not dampen reactivity or enhance recovery of psychophysiological stress compared to control, and no differences in reactivity or recovery were found by comfort food type. Findings suggest that by replacing unhealthy comfort foods with fruits and vegetables, women will not be sacrificing any stress-reducing benefits and can inherently improve the quality of their diet while avoiding potential drawbacks of unhealthy comfort eating (e.g., links with abdominal obesity).

Many people eat unhealthy foods that are high in calories, fat, or sugar when feeling stressed, yet little is known about whether this unhealthy comfort eating actually comforts. Additionally, prior research has not tested whether healthy comfort eating of fruits and vegetables might also alleviate stress, or whether comfort eating during the stress anticipation phase versus immediately after a stressful event is more beneficial for stress relief. The present experiment tested whether unhealthy and healthy comfort eating reduce acute psychophysiological responses to a socially evaluative stressor. Participants (N = 150 healthy women) underwent the Trier Social Stress Test in the lab and were randomly assigned to one of five conditions according to a 2 (food type: unhealthy vs. healthy) x 2 (eating timing: during stress anticipation vs. after the stressor) + 1 (no food control) between-subjects design. Stress outcomes included mood, cognitive appraisals, rumination, salivary cortisol, heart rate variability, and pre-ejection period. Unhealthy and healthy comfort eating did not dampen reactivity or enhance recovery of psychophysiological stress compared to control, and no differences in reactivity or recovery were found by comfort food type. Findings suggest that by replacing unhealthy comfort foods with fruits and vegetables, women will not be sacrificing any stress-reducing benefits and can inherently improve the quality of their diet while avoiding potential drawbacks of unhealthy comfort eating (e.g., links with abdominal obesity).

The present study aimed to investigate the psychological determinants of emotional eating in a national and international sample of healthy weight, overweight and obese adults (N = 226). Specifically, attachment styles, psychopathological symptom distress and love attitudes were explored for their ability to predict emotional eating. Findings supported the suggestion symptom distress may particularly predispose individuals to engaging in emotionally motivated overeating, with a large effect size observed. Preoccupied attachment was also a significant predictor of emotion eating, even after controlling for state-based inferences. However, there were no significant contributions of secure, fearful-avoidant, or dismissive-avoidant attachment style in the prediction of emotional eating. Similarly, none of the five primary love languages (e.g., words of affirmation, physical touch, receiving gifts and physical touch) accounted for a significant amount of variance in emotional eating. A m...

In two experimental studies in women, we investigated whether repeated testing improved the predictive validity of self-reported emotional eating (EE) for distress-induced food intake. We also tested whether there is support for a process of meaning making where pre-test and re-test EE are indirectly related through a serial causal chain of alexithymia and poor introspective awareness (IA). In study 1 (n=80), self-reported alexithymia and IA were measured before retesting EE. In study 2 (n=128), alexithymia and IA were measured after re-testing EE. In support of a process of meaning making, in both studies there was a significant serial chain of pre-test EE to re-test EE through alexithymia and IA. Further, re-test EE predicted somewhat more variance in distress-induced food intake than pre-test EE, though the difference was not significant. In conclusion, repeated testing may help respondents get a better understanding of a measure, thereby improving the validity of that measure.

Declared as a &amp;quot;public health emergency&amp;quot; by the World Health Organization in January 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic led to lockdowns in many parts of the world. Changes occurred in some daily habits like social interactions, the ability to cook, and eating habits. In this study, we aimed to assess the effects of Covid-19 induced confinement policies on comfort food consumption of a group of internet users in Turkey using a questionnaire. This questionnaire and Emotional Eater Questionnaire (EEQ) were answered by 602 participants. Comfort food consumption and different factors like gender, age differences, emotional status, and BMI were assessed anthropologically according to the local eating culture. As a result, we found that people consumed high-calorie comfort foods of local cuisine to cope with the difficult conditions of the pandemics, but the preferences changed according to gender, age, and emotional status, and this comfort food consumption generally caused weight gain.

This study investigated the daily hassles-eating behavior relationship and its moderators in a naturalistic setting. Design: A multilevel diary design was used to examine day-today within-person effects of daily hassles on eating behavior (N ϭ 422), together with the individual and simultaneous influence of potential moderating variables. Main Outcome Measures: Daily diary reports of betweenmeal snacking, fruit and vegetable consumption and perceived variations in daily food intake. Results: The results showed daily hassles were associated with increased consumption of high fat/sugar snacks and with a reduction in main meals and vegetable consumption. Ego-threatening, interpersonal and work-related hassles were associated with increased snacking, whereas, physical stressors were associated with decreased snacking. The overall hassles-snacking relationship was significantly stronger and more positive at high compared to low levels of restraint, emotional eating, disinhibition, external eating and in females and obese participants. Simultaneous consideration of these moderators indicated that emotional eating was the pre-eminent moderator of the hassles-snacking relationship. Conclusion: Daily hassles were associated with an increase in unhealthy eating behavior. These changes may indicate an important indirect pathway through which stress influences health risk.

Aim Previous research introduced the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire that allows the measurement of emotional, external and restrained eating styles. However, only limited data exist about long-term test-retest reliability, particularly for clinical participants.

In lactation, women experience major changes in their lives as new internal and external demands for attention and care for themselves and the baby, also body mass index due to eating behaviours. Our aim was to define relationships between mindful eating and eating behaviours of breastfeeding mothers by baby's age and maternal BMI. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between October-November 2021 with 302 lactating mothers without chronic disease. Our study was approved by Ethics Committee of the Acibadem Mehmet Ali Aydinlar University. A questionnaire form that examined demographic data and Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ-30) were applied. Anthropometric variables were reported by participants due to Covid-19 pandemic. Results: Mean age of our participants was 30.6±4.2 years. Mothers with obesity had lowest score in MEQ-30 (p<0.001). Lactating mothers who were underweight had highest MEQ-30 score (p<0.001). It was shown that lactating mothers have highest MEQ-30 score in the first 6 months, and MEQ-30 scores decreased as baby grows (p<0.001). Conclusion: Lactation period can be an appropriate time to bring about long-term changes in eating behavior. Healthcare professionals and teams can apply treatments focused on eating behavior and mindful eating for mothers with obesity in terms of their physical and emotional health, especially after the 6th month of breastfeeding.

PET studies have provided mixed evidence regarding central D2/D3 dopamine receptor binding and its relationship with obesity as measured by body mass index (BMI). Other aspects of obesity may be more tightly coupled to the dopaminergic system. We characterized obesity-associated behaviors and determined if these related to central D2 receptor (D2R) specific binding independent of BMI. Twenty-two obese and 17 normal-weight participants completed eating- and reward-related questionnaires and underwent PET scans using the D2R-selective and nondisplaceable radioligand (N-[(11)C]methyl)benperidol. Questionnaires were grouped by domain (eating related to emotion, eating related to reward, non-eating behavior motivated by reward or sensitivity to punishment). Normalized, summed scores for each domain were compared between obese and normal-weight groups and correlated with striatal and midbrain D2R binding. Compared to normal-weight individuals, the obese group self-reported higher rates of...

Stress has been associated with high-calorie, low-nutrient food intake (HCLN) and emotion-driven eating (EDE). However, effects on healthy food intake remain unknown. This study examined two facets of stress (self-efficacy, perceived helplessness) and food consumption, mediated by EDE. Cross-sectional data from fourth-graders (n=978; 52% female, 28% Hispanic) in an obesity intervention used self-report to assess self-efficacy, helplessness, EDE, fruit/vegetable (FV) intake, and high-calorie/low-nutrient (HCLN) food. Higher stress self-efficacy was associated with higher FV intake, β=.354, p&lt;0.001, and stress perceived helplessness had an indirect effect on HCLN intake through emotion-driven eating, indirect effect=.094, p&lt;0.001; χ(2)(347)=659.930, p&lt;0.001, CFI=0.940, TLI=0.930, RMSEA=0.030, p=1.00, adjusting for gender, ethnicity, BMI z-score, and program group. Stress self-efficacy may be more important for healthy food intake and perceived helplessness may indicate emotio...

Grazing, or the uncontrolled, repetitive eating of small amounts of food is being increasingly recognised as an important eating behaviour associated with obesity. In spite of the need for a better understanding of this eating behaviour for improved obesity treatment, currently there is no empirically validated self-report measure to assess grazing. Therefore, to contribute to a better understanding of this relatively understudied eating pattern, a new self-report questionnaire of grazing was developed in this study. Questionnaire items were designed to reflect previous empirical descriptions of grazing. A group of 248 university students completed the Grazing Questionnaire, other measures of eating-related behaviours and cognitions, and negative emotion. Sixty-two participants completed the Grazing Questionnaire a second time to calculate its temporal stability. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a clear two-factor solution for the questionnaire, reflecting repetitive eating beha...

The role of conscientiousness in understanding the effects of stress on eating behavior remains unknown. In this study, the interactive effects of conscientiousness and established individual differences variables (e.g. restraint, perfectionism) on perceived changes in food intake during a 2-week stressful and non-stressful period were examined. One hundred and fifty-five female participants completed measures of conscientiousness, self-oriented perfectionism, socially prescribed perfectionism and eating style (i.e. external eating, emotional eating and dietary restraint) at the beginning of the study. Perceived changes in food intake (i.e. between-meal snacking), stress and emotional distress were also assessed. The results found that low conscientious individuals who were currently trying to lose weight or were high on self-oriented perfectionism reported eating more between-meal snacks than usual during the stressful period compared to the non-stressful period. This study demonstrates, for the first time, that conscientiousness in conjunction with established individual differences variables is associated with perceived increases in food intake. These results suggest that when faced with a stressful encounter, low conscientious individuals (who are dieters or self-oriented perfectionists) may be less well equipped to cope and as a result shift their preference to more palatable and high energy dense snacks foods. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.