‘Emotional’ does not even start to cover it: Generalization of overeating in emotional eaters

Abstract

Based on recent studies indicating that emotional eating is not the clearly defined problem it is often 33 thought to be, the present study investigated whether emotional eaters overeat merely in response to 34 negative emotional cues, or to other cues as well. It was hypothesized that emotional eaters would 35 overeat after a variety of food cues, not limited to negative emotions. Participants took part in four 36 conditions (negative mood manipulation, positive mood manipulation, food exposure and a control 37 condition) divided over two sessions. Each condition was followed by a bogus taste test, after which 38 food intake was measured. Results showed strong correlations between food intake after all four 39 conditions, indicating that increased intake after one type of cue is related to increased intake after 40 other cues. Participants were identified as emotional or non-emotional eaters based on food intake in 41 the negative mood condition, and based on self-reported emotional eating scores. Both measures of 42 emotional eating were significantly related to food intake after all cues. Based on the current findings, 43we conclude that individuals who show increased food intake when in a negative emotional state also 44 overeat when experiencing other food-signalling cues. This indicates that 'emotional eating' may not 45 fully capture the eating behaviour of individuals currently identified as 'emotional eaters'. 46 47 48

Emotional Eating Is Not What You Think It Is and Emotional Eating Scales Do Not Measure What You Think They Measure

“…Werthmann et al (2014) induced a negative or a neutral mood in their participants, but did not find an effect of self-reported emotional eating status on food intake. In a recent study in which memory recall was paired with personal music, Bongers et al (2016) found a moderate correlation between self-reported emotional eating and food intake in both a negative and positive mood. In addition, they found increased food intake when feeling both negative and positive in emotional eaters compared to non-emotional eaters.…”

“…Finally, a recent study (Bongers et al, 2016), reasoned that emotional eaters could be better defined based on their actual food intake when in a negative mood: participants who ate the most after negative mood induction were considered emotional eaters. In counterbalanced order, the participants underwent a negative mood induction, a positive mood induction, food cue exposure, and a control procedure (all within subjects).…”

Mindfulness-based emotional eating awareness training: taking the emotional out of eating

“…Emotional eating is a response to negative emotions: a "tendency to overeat in response to negative emotions, such as anxiety or irritability" [1] (p. 106). More recently, researchers view it as a response to both negative and positive mood [2][3][4]. Emotional eating in eating disorders may reflect general difficulties with emotion regulation [5].…”

Validation and Factor Structure of the French-Language Version of the Emotional Appetite Questionnaire (EMAQ)

“…This disparity in either overeating or under-eating in the general population has been observed in clinical samples, and recent studies suggest that, besides obesity, EE could be involved in the entire spectrum of eating disorders: not only in binge eating episodes as in bulimia nervosa (BN) or binge eating disorder, but also in binge-purging and restrictive anorexia nervosa (Ricca et al, 2009, 2012). There is also growing evidence showing that positive emotions are considered to be an underestimated risk factor for food intake and overeating (Bongers et al, 2013a,b, 2016; Evers et al, 2013), but little is known about their effects on eating behaviors compared to those documented for negative emotions (Macht, 2008). However, recent studies suggest that eating in response to negative and to positive emotions could refer to different constructs (van Strien et al, 2013) and that only the desire to eat in response to negative emotions would be an ‘obese’ eating style (van Strien et al, 2016).…”