Effects of Anxiety on Caloric Intake and Satiety-Related Brain Activation in Women and Men

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To test the relationship of anxiety to caloric intake and food cue perception in women and men. METHODS Fifty-five twins (26 complete, 3 incomplete pairs; 51% women) underwent 2 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans (before and after a standardized meal) and then ate at an ad libitum buffet to objectively assess food intake. State and trait anxiety were assessed using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. During the fMRI scans, participants viewed blocks of fattening and non-fattening food images, and non-food objects. RESULTS In women, higher trait anxiety was associated with a higher body mass index (BMI) (r=0.40, P=0.010). Trait anxiety was positively associated with kilocalories consumed at the buffet (r=0.53, P=0.005) and percent kilocalories consumed from fat (r=0.30, P=0.006), adjusted for BMI. In within-pair models, which control for shared familial and genetic factors, higher trait anxiety remained associated with kilocalories consumed at the buffet (ρ=0.66, P=0.014), but not with BMI. In men, higher state anxiety was related to macronutrient choices, but not to total caloric intake or BMI. FMRI results revealed that women with high trait anxiety did not suppress activation by fattening food cues across brain regions associated with satiety perception after eating a standardized meal (mean difference low anxiety: −15.4, P<0.001; high anxiety: −1.53, P=0.82, adjusted for BMI). CONCLUSIONS In women, trait anxiety may promote excess caloric consumption through altered perception of high-calorie environmental food cues, placing women with genetic predispositions toward weight gain at risk of obesity.

Personal and Psychological Traits Influencing the Willingness to Pay for Food with Nutritional Claims: A Comparison between Vice and Virtue Food Products

“…In particular, anxiety tendency was statistically significant only for potato chips. This finding is in line with eating behaviour literature in which higher scores of the anxiety trait were positively associated with hypercaloric food consumption [ 26 , 27 ]. However, when nutritional claims were considered as attributes in the food choice of this hedonic food product, we found a positive willingness to pay for reduced-fat, low-salt potato chips, and a negative willingness to pay for potato chips bearing both nutritional claims.…”

“…On the other hand, the differences in purchase behaviour between utilitarian and hedonic food products with NCs might also be influenced by personal and psychological factors. These factors have been extensively addressed in the literature on eating behaviour, such as body image [ 21 , 22 , 23 ], emotional eating style [ 24 , 25 ], and anxiety tendency [ 26 , 27 ], which could be strongly related to consumer shopping behaviour. To illustrate, some studies showed that certain individuals react to external stimuli by increasing their consumption of indulgent food products (i.e., energy-dense food product) as a coping strategy.…”

“…Hence, they somatise this psychological state in physical symptoms, such as hyperventilation or high blood pressure [ 31 ]. Some authors highlighted that individuals with a high score on anxiety tend to present a high consumption of comfort food as a coping strategy to deal with their negative emotional state [ 26 , 27 ].…”

Association between the Distal Gut Microbiome and Anxiety in Highly Active Individuals

“…Therefore, it is possible that the interpretation of Prevotella in the gut could depend on the concentration of other bacterial species that are co-habitating the intestine. Lastly, because of the bidirectional communication between the gut and the brain, we can't discard the possibility of anxiety regulating food consumption [103] and therefore gut microbiome composition through nutrient availability. In this case the relationship between Prevotella and anxiety would not be a causative.…”

Anxiolytic Effect of Cedrol on Behavior and Brain Neurotransmitter Levels of Female Mice

“…In preclinical experiments or commonly-used behavioral tests, especially in the field of brain and behavior, female animals have often been omitted deliberately due to their own estrous cycle. [20][21][22] This limited application of females in behavioral experiments, the study on the anxiolytic activity of EOs, for instance, thus results in the presence of sexually dimorphic patterns of prevalence and/or severity, 22) as well as the lack of systematic studies on the underlying mechanism of anxiety behaviors. 20,23,24) The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the anxiolytic effect of cedrol on female ICR mice via the elevated plus maze (EPM) and light-dark box (LDB) paradigm.…”