Abstract
Overeating behavior is supposedly a major contributing factor to weight gain and obesity. Binge eating disorder (BED) with reoccurring episodes of excessive overeating is strongly associated with obesity. Learning models of overeating behavior and BED assume that mere confrontation with food leads to a conditioned response that is experienced as food craving. Accordingly, individuals with obesity and BED were shown to have high trait food cravings. To date, little is known about differences in state food cravings and cue reactivity at the sight of palatable food in individuals with obesity and BED compared to individuals with obesity without BED. Therefore, the aim of our study was to examine differences in cue-induced, state and trait food cravings in people with obesity with and without BED. We found that all aspects of food cravings were more prevalent in individuals with obesity and BED than in individuals without BED. By implementing a food cue reactivity paradigm, our results show that individuals with obesity with BED have more cue-induced cravings than individuals with obesity without BED. Moreover, these cue-induced cravings in individuals with obesity and BED were highest for high-fat and high-sugar foods as opposed to low-calorie foods. Thus, our results emphasize the role of increased cue reactivity and craving at the sight of palatable foods in individuals with obesity and BED. Hence, our findings support etiological models of conditioned binge eating and are in line with interventions targeting cue reactivity in BED.
Highlights
Overeating, i.e., consumption of food in the absence of physiological need with an inability to reduce ingestion, is one relevant factor in the complex etiology of obesity (Moore et al, 2017; McCuen-Wurst et al, 2018)
Planned post-hoc t-tests revealed that participants in the binge eating disorder (BED) group compared to the non-binge eating disorder (N-BED) group showed significantly more cue-induced cravings for the High Fat High Sugar (HFHS) category, t(68) = −2.53, p = 0.014, d = −0.605, but not for the Low Fat Low Sugar (LFLS) category, t(68) = 0.953 p = 0.344
Associations Between the Three Measures of Food Craving In the BED group, behaviorally assessed cue-induced craving for HFHS was positively associated with trait as well as state food craving, whereas LFLS was only associated with trait craving
Summary
Overeating, i.e., consumption of food in the absence of physiological need with an inability to reduce ingestion, is one relevant factor in the complex etiology of obesity (Moore et al, 2017; McCuen-Wurst et al, 2018). If overeating is characterized by the consumption of an unusually large amount of food in a short duration and/or the individual experiences a loss of control over ingestion, this is considered as binge eating (for a review see Meany et al, 2014). In treatment programs for obesity about 5–30% of patients report such behavior and fulfill further criteria for the diagnosis of binge eating disorder (BED; DSM-5, de Zwaan, 2001; Abilés et al, 2010; American Psychiatric Association, 2013), which negatively affects obesity treatment outcomes (Meany et al, 2014; Chao et al, 2016). The comorbidity rate of BED and depressive disorders is high (Man Lapidoth et al, 2011) and associated with poorer weight loss outcomes in clinical treatments (Pagoto et al, 2007)
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