Food reinforcement and obesity. Psychological moderators

Abstract

The relative reinforcing value of food (RRV food) provides an index of the motivation to eat. Research has shown that RRV food is higher in obese individuals than their non-obese peers, is associated with greater energy intake, predicts weight gain and interacts with impulsivity to predict energy intake. This study was designed to determine whether dietary restraint, dietary disinhibition or hunger moderate the effect of RRV food on the weight status and energy intake in 273 adults of various body mass index (BMI) levels. Hierarchical regression was used to assess the independent effects of RRV food on BMI and energy intake, controlling for age, sex, income, education, minority status, and RRV reading. Results showed that greater RRV food, but not RRV reading, was associated with greater BMI and energy intake. Dietary disinhibition and dietary restraint moderated the relationship between RRV food and BMI, with dietary disinhibition being a stronger moderator of this relationship ( r 2 = 0.20) than dietary restraint ( r 2 = 0.095). In addition, dietary disinhibition moderated the effect of RRV food on energy intake. These results replicate the importance of RRV food as a predictor of obesity, and show that psychological factors moderate the effect of food reinforcement on body weight and energy intake. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT00962117.