Abstract
Social and psychological stressors are both a part of daily life and are increasingly recognized as contributors to individual susceptibility to develop diseases and metabolic disorders. The present study investigated how snacks differing in sensory properties and presentation can influence ratings of affect in consumers with different levels of dispositional anxiety. This study examines the relationships between a pre-disposition to anxiety and food using a repeated exposures design with three interspersed test days over a period of two weeks. The study was conducted on ninety free-living male (n = 28) and female (n = 62) Dutch participants aged between 18 and 35 years old, with a BMI between 18 and 25 kg/m2 and different anxiety trait levels assessed using State-Trait Anxiety Inventory tests. The study was randomized by age, gender, anxiety trait score, and followed a parallel open design. Three test products: dark chocolate, a milk chocolate snack and crackers with cheese spread (control), which differed in composition, sensory properties and presentation, were evaluated. Changes in self-reported anxiety, emotion, and energetic states were assessed as a function of eating the snacks just after consumption and up to one hour. The repeated exposure design over a period of two weeks enabled the investigations of potential cumulative effects of regular consumption of the food products. The milk chocolate snack resulted in the decrease of anxiety in high anxiety trait subjects, whereas dark chocolate and cheese and crackers respectively improved the anxiety level and the energetic state of low anxiety trait participants. The mood effects were not altered with repeated exposure, and the magnitude of changes was similar on each test day, which illustrates the repeatability of the effects of the food on subjective measures of postprandial wellness.
Highlights
Social and psychological stressors are both a part of daily life and are increasingly recognized to impact individual traits with inferred effects on metabolic health, emotions and moods, and stress may play a role in determining dietary choices [1]
The population enrolled in the study included 28 males and 62 females distributed across two anxiety trait levels; high anxiety (33 females and 11 males) and low anxiety
There was no significant difference in gender balance between the two groups. t-Tests showed that mean anxiety trait score differed significantly between the two anxiety trait groups (p < 0.001): the high anxiety trait participants were significantly more anxious than the low anxiety trait participants
Summary
Social and psychological stressors are both a part of daily life and are increasingly recognized to impact individual traits with inferred effects on metabolic health, emotions and moods, and stress may play a role in determining dietary choices [1]. Food intake is a complex process under the influence of both physiological aspects (e.g., hormonal regulation of hunger and satiety) and subjective aspects [7]. The later encapsulates senses (e.g., taste, smell, palatability, or texture), cognitive perception (e.g., preferences, aversions) and the postprandial feeling of wellness perceived by the consumer after the consumption of the product [8]. Consumers have preconceived ideas about product features that will influence their perceived satiety level, which may subsequently affect their food preference [9]. Products perceived as fat, high in proteins, with a savory taste are expected to have a higher level of satiety compared to sweet products. Stress is often associated with increased consumption of high fat and highly palatable foods [4,10]
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