Emotions and eating

Question 1

Emotional eating

Answer 1

measured with DEBQ
normally associated with negative emotions (comfort eating) due to mood enhancing properties of food
negative/extreme emotions seem to have most impact on food selection/eating behaviour, may be linked to binge eating

Question 2

Emotional states and hunger

Answer 2

hunger - arousal, irritability, motivates you to seek food
satiation - lethargy, calmness
intense emotions - supress food intake as linked to behaviours/physiological response that interferes with eating

Question 3

Escape from self-awareness theory

Answer 3

attempt to escape/shift attention from source of anxiety causing negative self-awareness (binge eating) (Hetherington & Baumeister 1991(

Question 4

Evidence for emotional eating

Answer 4

experimentally induced negative mood immediately improved by palatable food (Macht & Muller 2007)
eating a meal reliably alters mood, typically reducing arousal/irritability and increasing calmness and positive affect but unusual meals may negatively affect mood (Gibson 2006)
emotional responses are sensitive to expectations based on sensory qualities of a single taste (Macht et al 2002)
experimental induction of sadness decreased appetite, but when cheerful, chocolate tasted more pleasant (Macht et al 2002)

Question 5

Types of food effects on emotions

Answer 5

sweetness/sensory cues to high energy density can improve mood and mitigate effects of stress via opioidergic/dopaminergic neurotransmission but chronic exposure can decrease sensitivity and lead to overeating energy-dense food (Gibson 2006)
carb high foods increase calm/sleepiness, more positive affect after protein, high-fat meals increase fatigue and reduce alertness/attention (Gibson 2006)

Question 6

Five-way model (Macht 2008)

Answer 6

integrative model of links between emotions and eating, accounts for individual characteristics and emotion features

Question 7

Sections of five way model (Macht 2008)

Answer 7

Effect on food choice - based on emotions evoked by different foods
Suppression of food intake - from really strong emotions (evolutionary)
Undermine cognitive control - emotional content may be able to disinhibit restrained eaters
Mechanism for regulating emotions - some foods can manipulate emotions (high fat foods trigger opioid system)
Emotion-congruent modulation - may experience food differently when experiencing different emotions

Question 8

Stress

Answer 8

aversive state where wellbeing of individual is in jeopardy and perceived demands of situation outstrip perceived resources to cope

Question 9

Cortisol release

Answer 9

partial shut down of immune system, increased hunger, glucose released in blood stream, insulin release blocked, HR and BP increase
cortisol and insulin may stimulate ingestion of energy-dense comfort foods which protect HPA axis from stress-induced dysfunction (Dallman et al 2003)

Question 10

Stress-driven eaters

Answer 10

may eat more energy-dense high-fat foods and have higher body mass indices (Laitinen & Sovio 2002)
not effective coping mechanism as doesn’t reduce distress during or after eating (Polivy & Herman 1999)

Question 11

Stress effects on eating

Answer 11

conflicting - may be due to inconsistent definitions, difficulty measuring, physical vs emotional stress, stress intensity, general effect vs individual difference, bi-directional relationship
females may be more susceptible and feel more guilty after (Wasnick et al 2003)
males eat less when stress and women eat more (Stone & Brownell 1994)
high workload periods associated with higher energy and fat intake across males and females (Wardle et al 2000) - females may be more restrained so may be more likely to overeat
association between daily hassles and snacking but only in those with high cortisol reactors (Newman et al 2007)

Question 12

Public speaking

Answer 12

anticipation of public speaking - stressed emotional eaters ate more sweet high-fat foods and more energy dense meal than unstressed and non-emotional eaters (Oliver et al 2000)

Question 13

Physical vs psychological threat

Answer 13

may underconsume with physical threat, suggesting cope with these in different way
active coping style (RT task) results in disinhibiton and increased intake, passive coping doesn’t (cold pressor test) (Lattimore & Caswell 2004)
ego threat increased restrained eaters eating but no suppression on unrestrained, physical threat decreased unrestrained eating and slightly increased restrained (Hetherington et al 1991)

Question 14

Impact of stress eating

Answer 14

stress associated with greater risk of weight gain and loss in UK students (Serlachius et al 2007)
stress associated with increased consumption of unhealthy foods and decreased healthy foods (Hill et al 2022), restraint is sig moderator of this as cognitive strategies disinhibited during stress

Question 15

Stress eating and restraint

Answer 15

may be that restraint eating doesn’t cause increased eating when stressed but is proxy risk factor for vulnerability to weight gain (Lowe & Kral 2006)

Question 16

Stress in emotional eaters

Answer 16

emotional eaters more likely to report overconsumption and non-emotional eaters underconsumption, mostly for unhealthy foods so emotional eating may be crucial target for interventions in stress-related consumption (Wallis & Hetherington 2009)

Question 17

Sensory explanation for stress eating

Answer 17

eating a food could alter mood via sensory/hedonic effects

Question 18

Physiological explanation for stress eating

Answer 18

physiological effects can change appetite - HPA axis as response to stress, opioidergic mechanisms involved in reward (people may use food to relieve stress via these opioid hits but chronic activation desensitizes effect)

Question 19

Psychological explanation for stress eating

Answer 19

cognitive expectations, personality characteristics, low mood
escape theory - overeating to shift attention from ego-threat stimulus causing aversive self-awareness
limited cognitive capacity hypothesis - preoccupying diet cognitions associated with deficits in working memory, disinhibited intake occurs in restrained eaters when cognitive capacity limited regardless of emotional component (Boon et al 2002)

Question 20

Cognitive capacity vs escape theory

Answer 20

escape theory must be ego threat but cognitive capacity suggests it can be anything using working memory, regardless of emotional content
is ego threat necessary precondition for disinhibition of restraint or not?
both cognitive demand and ego-threat associated with overeating in vulnerable individuals but effect depends on type/amount of food and characteristics of consumer (Wallis & Hetherington 2009)

Question 21

Evidence for escape theory

Answer 21

modified stroop task found both cognitive demand and ego threat task increased intake for restrained eaters but emotional eaters only increased after ego-threat (Wallis & Hetherington 2004)

Question 22

Reducing stress eating

Answer 22

stress management support tool - Pps assessed stressful situations and provide healthy snack alternative to what they’d normally choose and visualise making healthy choice - found to decrease unhealthy snack choice (O’Connor et al 2015)
visualisation may be enough to change food choices