Do BMI and Sex Hormones Influence Visual Attention to Food Stimuli in Women? Tracking Eye Movements Across the Menstrual Cycle

Abstract

Previous research has suggested that women’s food intake is influenced by increases in progesterone, most notably during the post-ovulatory period. Additionally, body mass index and high-density foods play a contributing role in the amount of attention given to food. Although research has primarily focused on women’s self-reported ratings across the menstrual cycle, whether women’s attention to food is influenced by progesterone levels, menstrual status, and BMI has been unexplored. The current study investigated women’s visual attention to high and low-caloric food items. Across two lab visits, women’s progesterone levels were tracked while they completed an eye-tracking task. The results demonstrated that high-caloric foods were viewed longer irrespective of BMI, and there was tentative support for women’s progesterone influencing their first fixation durations to high-caloric foods. Overall, the findings suggest that high caloric foods were visually salient, which may be indicative of how humans allocate attention to food high in energy density, and it suggests that women’s early attentional processes are partly influenced by sex hormones (i.e., progesterone).