Food Reward after a Traditional Inuit or a Westernised Diet in an Inuit Population in Greenland

Abstract

The food availability and dietary behaviours in Greenland have changed with increasing Westernisation. Food reward is an important driver of food choice and intake, which has not previously been explored in the Arctic population. The aim of this study was to explore differences in food reward after a four-week intervention period with a traditional Inuit diet (TID) or Westernised diet (WD) in Inuit populations in Northern and Western Greenland. This cross-sectional analysis included 44 adults (n = 20 after TID and n = 24 after WD). We assessed the food reward components, explicit liking and implicit wanting, using the Leeds Food Preference Questionnaire under standardised conditions 60 min after drinking a glucose drink as part of an oral glucose tolerance test after four weeks following a TID or WD. The food intake was assessed using food frequency questionnaires. The intervention groups differed only in implicit wanting for high-fat sweet foods, with higher implicit wanting among the participants following TID compared to WD. Both groups had lower explicit liking and implicit wanting for sweet relative to savoury foods and for high-fat relative to low-fat foods. This exploratory study can guide future studies in Inuit populations to include measures of food reward to better understand food intake in the Arctic.

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“…The other subtask required a rapid choice to be made between paired combinations of the food images of the different food categories, based on most-wanted food item at that specific moment, and was used to measure relative preference and implicit wanting. The order of the tasks was randomized within the program [ 40 , 46 , 47 ].…”

“…Foods were chosen from a validated database to be either high or low in fat, sweet or savory (nonsweet) taste, and similar in familiarity, protein content and palatability, as well as validated in terms of being appropriate for Danish food consumers [ 47 , 48 , 49 ]. An overview of the foods depicted in the images and their respective macronutrient content can be seen in Table 2 , and specific images can be seen in Table S1 .…”

“…Furthermore, reaction times for each trial were measured as a means for computing a measure of implicit wanting. In line with previous studies using the LFPQ implicit wanting score was calculated for each food category as a composite score for one food category relative to the other categories [ 40 , 47 , 50 ]. The score was calculated using the following algorithm and was based on frequency of choice, reaction time for both chosen and nonchosen foods, and a mean reaction time [ 40 , 47 ].…”

“…In line with previous studies using the LFPQ implicit wanting score was calculated for each food category as a composite score for one food category relative to the other categories [ 40 , 47 , 50 ]. The score was calculated using the following algorithm and was based on frequency of choice, reaction time for both chosen and nonchosen foods, and a mean reaction time [ 40 , 47 ]. A positive score would indicate a higher preference for that food category compared to the others.…”