Greater Food Reward Sensitivity Is Associated with More Frequent Intake of Discretionary Foods in a Nationally Representative Sample of Young Adults.

Tonja R Nansel,Bruce Simons-Morton,Leah M Lipsky,Danping Liu,Denise L Haynie,Miriam H Eisenberg

doi:10.3389/fnut.2016.00033

Abstract

Food reward sensitivity may influence individual susceptibility to an environment replete with highly palatable foods of minimal nutritional value. These foods contain combinations of added sugar, fat, and/or salt that may enhance their motivational salience. This study examined associations of food reward sensitivity with eating behaviors in the NEXT Generation Health Study, a nationally representative sample of U.S. young adults. Participants (n = 2202) completed self-report measures including the Power of Food Scale, assessing food reward sensitivity, and intake frequency of 14 food groups. Multiple linear regressions estimated associations of food reward sensitivity with each of the eating behaviors adjusting for covariates. Higher food reward sensitivity was associated with more frequent intake of fast food (b ± linearized SE = 0.24 ± 0.05, p < 0.001), sweet and salty snacks (0.21 ± 0.05, p < 0.001), foods made with cheese (0.14 ± 0.06, p = 0.03), soda (0.12 ± 0.04, p = 0.009), processed meats (0.12 ± 0.05, p = 0.045), and fish (0.08 ± 0.03, p = 0.03) but was not associated with intake frequency of fruit or juice, green or orange vegetables, beans, whole grains, nuts/seeds, or dairy products. Food reward sensitivity was associated with greater intake of discretionary foods but was not associated with intake of most health-promoting foods, suggesting food reward sensitivity may lead to preferential intake of unhealthful foods.

Highlights

Poor diet is the largest contributor to early death globally [1] and is linked to numerous adverse health outcomes independent of body mass index (BMI) [2,3,4,5,6]
As measured by the Power of Food Scale (PFS) aggregate score, was associated with more frequent intake of fast food (b ± linearized SE = 0.24 ± 0.05, p < 0.001), sweet/ salty snacks (0.21 ± 0.05, p < 0.001), foods made with cheese (0.14 ± 0.06, p = 0.03), soda (0.12 ± 0.04, p = 0.009), processed meats (0.12 ± 0.05, p = 0.045), and fish (0.08 ± 0.03, p = 0.03) (Table 2)
Models were adjusted for sex, age, race/ethnicity, family affluence, parent education, height, body mass index, and vigorous physical activity. In this nationally representative sample of young adults, higher food reward sensitivity as measured by the PFS aggregate score was associated with more frequent intake of discretionary food categories including sweet and salty snacks, processed meat, cheesy foods, and fast food

Summary

Introduction

Poor diet is the largest contributor to early death globally [1] and is linked to numerous adverse health outcomes independent of body mass index (BMI) [2,3,4,5,6]. Diets are characterized by excessive intake of unhealthful foods [8], sugar [9], and salt [10] – the latter two of which are Reward Sensitivity and Eating Behaviors primary ingredients in many discretionary foods. These foods are ubiquitous [11] and highly marketed, especially to youth [12, 13], and many people experience difficulty moderating their intake [14, 15]. These high calorie foods stimulate greater activation of brain reward circuitry relative to low calorie foods [24], potentially contributing to their consumption for hedonic reasons, rather than homeostatic needs

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