Why Being ‘Stressed’ Is ‘Desserts’ in Reverse—The Effect of Acute Psychosocial Stress on Food Pleasure and Food Choice

Abstract

The link between acute stress, food pleasure and eating behavior in humans by employing measures of individual reward mechanisms has not been investigated as of yet. Having these insights is key to understanding why many people experience a change in eating behavior when experiencing stress. Thirty-five Danes (mean age 21.71 years) underwent a stress-inducing and relaxation-inducing task based on a randomized cross-over study design. Both tasks were combined with the Leeds Food Preference Questionnaire, to investigate the effect of stress on specific measures of food reward. Furthermore, participants chose a snack, as a covert measure of actual food choice. The study found no effect on explicit liking, explicit wanting or relative preference. For implicit wanting, an effect was detected on high-fat sweet foods, with increasing scores for the stress-induced condition. Moreover, 54% chose a different snack following the stress-inducing condition. Interestingly, 14% chose to change their snack choice to no snack at all. Results suggest acute psychosocial stress can increase cravings for highly palatable foods for some, while for others an experience of loss of appetite prevails. Overall, this study points to a further understanding of why consumers have issues with making healthy food choices, ultimately affecting public health too.

Is Stress Taking the Pleasure Out of Food?—A Characterization of the Food Pleasure Profiles, Appetite, and Eating Behaviors of People with Chronic Stress

“…Furthermore, several papers have reported that chronic stress is linked to a change in diet towards fewer main meals and higher intake of, especially, highly-palatable snack foods, mainly due to a continued activation of the HPA axis [16,64]. In line with these studies and a previous study on acute stress reporting an increase in the unconscious craving for high-fat sweet snack foods [41], the majority of respondents reported to have increased their intake of sweet snacks after being ill with stress, and a large group likewise reported to have increased their intake of salty snacks.…”

“…Previous research by the authors of the present article has shown that acute psychosocial stress, reward, and food choice are linked via specific reward measures [41]. More specifically, it was found that 'implicit wanting' as a measure of unconscious craving towards specific food types increased for high-fat sweet foods when under the influence of acute psychosocial stress.…”

“…The relationship between stress and eating behavior evidently needs more attention, so as to truly understand why healthy eating behaviors, in general, are sacrificed when people fall ill with stress [17,20,41]. When one considers the recent reported health state of Danes and other Western societies with decreasing mental health and increasingly perceived stress levels, as well as increasing obesity rates [51,52], investigations of this issue seems more imperative than ever.…”

The Relationship between Social Anhedonia and Perceived Pleasure from Food—An Exploratory Investigation on a Consumer Segment with Depression and Anxiety

“…Thus, these aspects all provided pleasure for both groups and thus attested to the fact that the intrinsic product characteristics of food may operate as the foundation for a pleasurable experience. These results mirror those found in previous studies by the current authors [ 27 , 28 , 35 , 58 ], as well as confirm findings in the literature in the field of food satisfaction and wellbeing, which have found a strong relation between the sensory properties of food and satisfaction and liking [ 59 , 60 ]. In addition, the aspects of fulfilling one’s ‘Needs’ and ‘Expectations’ and having ‘Choices’ were also among the most chosen for both groups.…”

“…A recent study found that people suffering from chronic stress indeed show signs of anhedonia and report changes in appetite, the perception of food pleasure, and eating behavior [ 27 ]. In addition, it was discovered that even short bouts of acute psychosocial stress have the potential to alter individuals’ food preferences by the specific reward mechanism of implicit wanting, leading to the choice of highly palatable foods [ 28 ]. Thus, it can be argued that people suffering from stress, even in short temporary events, likewise experience symptoms of anhedonia [ 27 , 28 ].…”