Differences In Eating Research Articles

Patterns of negative emotional eating among Chinese young adults: A latent class analysis

There is ample evidence suggesting that negative emotional eating is closely related to disordered eating behaviors. However, most previous studies on the topic focused only on emotional over-eating, but neglected emotional under-eating. Moreover, previous studies also mainly used variable-oriented methods by reducing negative emotional eating to a single dimension, which limits our understanding of individual differences in negative emotional eating. In this study, we used a person-oriented approach, latent class analysis (LCA), to examine the negative emotional eating patterns and to characterize these patterns in a sample of 1,068 Chinese young adults (52.6% females, aged 17–24 years). Negative emotional eating was measured by the Emotional Over-Eating and Emotional Under-Eating subscales of the Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire. Four patterns, namely, “non-emotional eating” (38.9%), “emotional over- and under-eating” (15.4%), “emotional over-eating” (14.7%), and “emotional under-eating" (31.0%), were identified. Sex and BMI were found to be statistically significant predictors for negative emotional eating patterns. The identified four patterns showed significant differences in eating disorder symptoms and psychological distress. Particularly, participants in emotional over- and under-eating exhibited the highest level of eating disorder symptoms and psychological distress. Overall, this study identified four distinct negative emotional eating patterns, among which, the emotional over- and under-eating was the most problematic. Future studies regarding negative emotional eating and its impact on mental health may benefit from focusing not only on individuals with emotional over-eating, but also on those showing a mixed pattern of negative emotional eating.

FOOD PORN AS VISUAL NARRATIVE: FOOD BLOGGING AND IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION

Globalization has transformed the way modern society produces, prepares and consumes food. For the past twenty years, studies on the globalization of food have focused primarily on the effects of fast food industries on societies. The term 'McDonaldization' was coined by sociologist George Ritzer in his seminal work "The McDonaldization of Society" (100-7). A decade later, the topic remains the same but the focus has shifted to the East with the popularity of eastern cuisine, especially Japanese sushi in Western cultures (Carroll 451). Through the proliferation of fast food chains and sushi, new cultures of fusion food have emerged to diminish the social differences in eating. However, there has been a revival in class-based eating as in a recent phenomenon known as 'food porn.' Although it may sound outrageous, food porn is defined as 'food that is so sensationally out of bounds of what a food should be that it deserves to be considered pornographic' (McBride 38). This refers to the mouthwatering, highly-stylized images of food displayed in magazines, cook shows and social media that is meant to induce the desire to eat. A key feature of food porn is its fantasy-like, unattainable quality, as most home cooks can never reproduce the exact dish presented. As noted by critic Richard Magee in "Food Puritanism", ornamental cooking is only valued for its attractive surface appearance, but is fully divorced from its taste or nutritional aspect (26-38). It is about putting on a show; a culinary performance to stimulate the sight of the audience and whet their appetites. The line between fiction and reality is often blurred in such visual representations of food.

Sex differences in the physiology of eating

Hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis function fundamentally affects the physiology of eating. We review sex differences in the physiological and pathophysiological controls of amounts eaten in rats, mice, monkeys, and humans. These controls result from interactions among genetic effects, organizational effects of reproductive hormones (i.e., permanent early developmental effects), and activational effects of these hormones (i.e., effects dependent on hormone levels). Male-female sex differences in the physiology of eating involve both organizational and activational effects of androgens and estrogens. An activational effect of estrogens decreases eating 1) during the periovulatory period of the ovarian cycle in rats, mice, monkeys, and women and 2) tonically between puberty and reproductive senescence or ovariectomy in rats and monkeys, sometimes in mice, and possibly in women. Estrogens acting on estrogen receptor-α (ERα) in the caudal medial nucleus of the solitary tract appear to mediate these effects in rats. Androgens, prolactin, and other reproductive hormones also affect eating in rats. Sex differences in eating are mediated by alterations in orosensory capacity and hedonics, gastric mechanoreception, ghrelin, CCK, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), glucagon, insulin, amylin, apolipoprotein A-IV, fatty-acid oxidation, and leptin. The control of eating by central neurochemical signaling via serotonin, MSH, neuropeptide Y, Agouti-related peptide (AgRP), melanin-concentrating hormone, and dopamine is modulated by HPG function. Finally, sex differences in the physiology of eating may contribute to human obesity, anorexia nervosa, and binge eating. The variety and physiological importance of what has been learned so far warrant intensifying basic, translational, and clinical research on sex differences in eating.

Differences in eating and activity markers among normal weight, overweight, and obese rural women

The purpose of this study was to examine differences in healthy eating and physical activity behaviors and associated biomarkers among normal weight (body mass index [BMI] < 25), overweight (BMI 25-29.9), and obese (BMI > or = 30) rural women. Random digit dialing was used to recruit 225 rural women (57.9 +/- 5.6 years). Measures of healthy eating and physical activity were completed on the computer during individual sessions at the rural sites. Research nurses then assessed a battery of biomarkers of activity and eating, including blood lipids, blood pressure, cardiorespiratory fitness (VO(2max)), and resting heart rate. Major findings were differences across weight categories in daily calories consumed and expended, daily fruit servings, daily meat group servings, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, vital signs, and cardiorespiratory fitness. The obese women both consumed and expended significantly more calories daily than those in the other two weight groups. Obese women consumed significantly fewer fruit group servings than both the normal weight and overweight women. Obese women consumed significantly more meat group servings than overweight women. There also were significant differences in systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, resting heart rate, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and cardiorespiratory fitness across the three weight groups. This study provides evidence of major differences in some eating and activity behaviors and biomarkers across BMI groups. Major differences exist between the normal weight and overweight group as compared to the obese group.

A consumer test of bull and steer beef of equal fatness

It has been suggested that differing fatness may be a major contribution to detected eating differences between bull and steer beef. This paper compares a subset of households who cooked and ate bull and steer beef of equal fatness. Respondents still detected that steer was preferable to bull.

Sex differences in body weight and eating: Organization and activation by gonadal hormones in the rat

Female rats injected on the fifth day of life with testosterone propionate (TP) or estradiol benzoate (EB) weigh more in adulthood than control animals injected with oil. If rats are ovariectomized prior to steroid treatment on Day 5, body weight differences in adulthood are reduced and their initial appearance during development is delayed. Neonatal TP or EB treatment increases responsiveness to the weight-promoting effects of androgens in adulthood and decreases adult responsiveness to the weight depressing actions of ovarian hormones. We propose that hormonal stimulation in infancy affects body weight by altering hormonal sensitivity of neural weight regulating mechanisms. Non-neural mechanisms and behavioral effects which might contribute to changes in body weight are also considered. The adult sex difference in body weight is multiply determined by postnatal organizational and activational effects of gonadal hormones as well as by non-hormonal genetic factors and/or prenatal testicular secretions. The sex difference in eating is less subject to early organizing actions of hormones and is primarily attributable to the different hormones secreted by male and female gonads beginning sometime after the end of the neonatal organizational period.