Food reward. What it is and how to measure it

Abstract

We investigated the contribution of hunger and food liking to food reward, and the relationship between food reward and food intake. We defined liking as the pleasantness of taste of food in the mouth, and food reward as the momentary value of a food to the individual at the time of ingestion. Liking and food reward were measured, respectively, by ratings of the pleasantness of the taste of a mouthful, and ratings of desire to eat a portion, of the food in question. Hunger, which we view as primarily the absence of fullness, was rated without food being present. Study 1 provided evidence that hunger and liking contribute independently to food reward, with little effect of hunger on liking. Food intake reduced liking and reward value more for the eaten food than uneaten foods. The results were ambiguous as to whether this food-specific decline in reward value ('sensory-specific satiety') involved a decrease in 'wanting' in addition to the decrease in liking. Studies 2 and 3 compared desire to eat ratings with work-for-food and pay-for-food measures of food reward, and found desire to eat to be equal or superior in respect of effects of hunger and liking, and superior in predicting ad libitum food intake. A further general observation was that in making ratings of food liking participants may confuse the pleasantness of the taste of food with the pleasantness of eating it. The latter, which some call 'palatability,' decreases more with eating because it is significantly affected by hunger/fullness. Together, our results demonstrate the validity of ratings of desire to eat a portion of a tasted food as a measure of food reward and as a predictor of food intake.

Hydration status affects thirst and salt preference but not energy intake or postprandial ghrelin in healthy adults: A randomised crossover trial

“…After completing the oral glucose tolerance test [7], a measure of food reward was taken, adapted from Rogers and Hardman [28]. This was administered to participants on a laptop computer (ASUS Transformer 550) and comprised of computerised visual analogue scales (VAS) anchored between 0 'not at all' and 100 'extremely'.…”

“…A series of studies have demonstrated that this measure of food reward is comparable or even superior to traditional measures of food reward (e.g. willingness to pay) when predicting subsequent ad-libitum intake of the task food [28].…”

Too Depleted to Try? Testing the Process Model of Ego Depletion in the Context of Unhealthy Snack Consumption

“…Hunger. Self-reported hunger was assessed on a single 7-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (not hungry at all) to 7 (extremely hungry), and was included as a covariate in analyses as it has been shown to affect food consumption (Haynes et al, 2014;Rogers & Hardman, 2015).…”

Exploring incentive salience in relation to pre and post consumption measures within the proximity effect

“…Rogers and colleagues (Brunstrom & Rogers, 2009;Rogers & Hardman, 2015) argue that asking an individual to state how much they would be willing to pay for a food can indicate how much they want the food. Therefore, the present study will use adaptations of the measures used in the aforementioned studies, as well as measuring specific snack liking, in an effort to measure food wanting and disentangle liking and wanting.…”