Emotional eating and food intake after sadness and joy

Abstract

Abstract:Do people with a high score on a scale for eating in response to negative emotions also show high food intake in response to positive emotions?. We studied these effects in 60 female students that were preselected on the basis of extreme high or low scores on an emotional eating questionnaire. Using a between subject design we experimentally tested the difference in food intake following a mood induction designed to induce joy or sadness (the joy vs. sad mood condition). The high and low emotional eaters did not differ in their food intake, but emotional eating significantly moderated the relationship between mood condition and food intake. Whereas low emotional eaters ate similar amounts after the sad and after the joy mood condition, high emotional eaters ate significantly more after the sad mood condition than after the joy mood condition. A further finding was that a similar moderator effect for emotional eating was found for intake of sweet food but not for intake of salty food. These findings would suggest that eating in response to negative and to positive emotions refer to two different constructs.

The Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18 Polish version: factor structure analysis among normal weight and obese adult women

“…In addition, obesity signifies non-adaptive coping strategies and the regulation of emotional state through food [54]. There is a high probability that due to strong stigmatization and alienation, individuals with obesity are faced with negative emotions and cope by engaging in (emotional) eating [55][56][57][58]. Determinants of BMI can also be configured in various styles of eating: cognitive restraint (vs. unrestrained), uncontrolled eating (vs. controlled) and emotional eating (vs. unemotional) [30,59,60].…”

The role of emotion regulation in childhood obesity: implications for prevention and treatment

“…As a result, emotional eating increases the intake of sweet and fatty foods, or 'comfort food' (90)(91)(92) . In experimental studies, emotional eaters have been found to consume more sweet and fatty foods (93)(94)(95) in response to stress. Although there are fewer studies of child populations, the conclusions are often similar: emotional eating was associated with high intake of sweet and/ or fatty food in both observational (85,(96)(97)(98) and laboratory studies (95,(99)(100)(101) .…”

Real Life Scenes to Study Emotions in Women

“…Regarding comparison of the DLS video with previously validated videos, other studies have also mentioned an increase in negative emotions and a reduction in positive emotions after presentation of this type of video (Macht & Mueller, 2007;Sheppard-Sawyer et al, 2000;van Strien et al, 2013;Yeomans & Coughlan, 2009). …”

“…The movies validated to manipulate emotions are videos that stimulate fear, incite anger, and foster happiness (Bongers, Jansen, Havermans, Roefs, & Nederkoorn, 2013;Gross & Levenson, 1995;Macht & Mueller, 2007;Philippot, 1993;van Strien et al, 2013;Yeomans & Coughlan, 2009). These movies have effectively aided investigation of specific emotions.…”