Week 5-The Association between eating and drinking behaviour Flashcards
How is alcohol a risk factor for weight gain?
■ Alcohol has an energy density of 7.1 kcal per gram
– Second most energy-dense macronutrient only to fat (9 kcal per gram).
– Frequent consumption of alcohol may therefore lead to weight gain if this is not compensated for.
■ In addition to alcohol’s high energy density, alcohol-induced increases food intake can produce an even greater caloric surplus.
What is the link between acute alcohol consumption and total energy intake? (Kwok et al., 2019)
-Total energy intake = calories from alcohol consumed AND food consumed.
-alcohol consumption increases total energy intake.
What is the link between acute alcohol consumption and food energy intake? (Kwok et al., 2019)
Increased food energy intake with alcohol consumption.
What are 2 prolonged pathways by which alcohol can increase weight?
Increased energy intake (from the alcohol itself) + Increased food intake when in an intoxicated state = Risk of alcohol-induced
weight gain.
What are some ways in which alcohol consumption can affect food intake?
■ Increase the reward value and craving towards food (Gough et al., 2021)
■ Impair inhibitory control (Christiansen et al., 2016)
■ Hyperactivity of Agrp neurons in the hypothalamus (an important part of the brain’s feeding circuit which often flips the brain into hunger mode) (Cains et al., 2017)=flipped into chronic hunger
■ Suppresses/stimulates hormones implicated in appetite control (see Traversy & Chaput, 2015 for review)
What is Gough et al’s (2021) study involving whether alcohol can increase the reward value and craving of foods?
■ Using a within-subjects design, 84 participants attended two sessions, one
where they consumed an alcoholic drink (0.6 g/kg) and another where they consumed an alcohol-free placebo (i.e., gave them a dosage of alcohol dependent on body weight).
■ Measures of snack urge ratings (including desire to consume) were measured before and after consumption of the test drink.
■ A measure of attentional bias was also taken (using a modified stroop task).
– This measured food-related attention bias (in theory greater attention=greater desire to consume food).
■ Comparison was food-related attention bias after consuming alcohol vs after
consuming the placebo drink.
What were Gough et al’s (2021) study findings?
■ Alcohol consumption of a moderate alcohol dose (0.6 g/kg) does increase food intake and attentional bias towards food.
■ Importantly, we also tested the effect of a lower dose of alcohol (0.3 g/kg).
– This did not affect food intake or attentional bias of food.
– A dose-dependent response? I.e., does a certain threshold of alcohol need to be consumed before we see changes in eating behaviour? Why is this the case?
What was Christiansen et al’s (2016) study relating to if alcohol reduces inhibitory control?
■ Recruited 60 female participants who consumed either an alcohol-free placebo or an alcoholic drink (0.6 g/kg).
■ After consuming the drink, participants completed a Stroop task (measuring inhibitory control) (given colour words in different colours and asked to ignore the actual colour and just say the colour the word says) and were allowed to freely consume cookies for 15 minutes.
What was Christiansen et al’s (2016) findings?
■ Cookie calorie intake was greater in the alcohol condition. Stroop reaction time was greater in the alcohol condition (indicative of poorer inhibitory control).
■ Findings also showed that Stroop task performance mediated the effect of drink condition on cookies consumed (i.e., partially explain by impaired inhibitory control).
What is the importance of goals and
cognitive processes in eating behaviour?
■ Cognitive processes, such as dietary goals (e.g., desire to avoid weight gain) determine eating behaviour.
■ These processes can interact with homeostatic processes but can
also override behavioural impulses.
– E.g., alcohol consumption produces a greater desire to consume food, however initiation of this action will partially depend on an individuals goal.
■ Christiansen et al. (2016) also investigated whether dietary restraint (concerns of weight gain) may moderate the mediation
effect.
What were Christiansen et al’s (2016) findings for the mediated effect of intentions on eating behaviour?
■ The mediation effect was significant for those with low and medium dietary restraint, but not high dietary restraint.
■ This suggests that an individuals cognitive goals (e.g., avoiding weight gain) can override the effect of alcohol consumption on food intake.
What is the Dual-Process Model of Eating
Behaviour?
■ From the reviewed research, we can see that alcohol increases food reward (Gough et al., 2021) and can impair inhibitory control (Christiansen et al., 2016).
■ (Over)eating in humans is argued to occur in part due to increased food reward and reduced inhibitory control.
■ Interaction between food reward and inhibitory control predicts short-term food intake (Appelhans et al., 2011) and also changed in weight.
Dual=1. Food Reward 2. Inhibitory Control
What evidence is there of reward and inhibitory control predicting BMI change? (Meule & Platte, 2016)
-High motor impulsivity (i.e., poor inhibitory control) and high attentional bias show the highest change in BMI over the course of a time period.
What Cross-sectional evidence is there for drinking behaviour and weight? (Traversy & Chaput, 2015)
■Associations between drinking behaviour and weight outcomes are mixed (Traversy & Chaput, 2015)
– In both men and women:
■ No association : Four studies (men); Two studies (women)
■ Positive association: Three studies (men)
■ Negative association: Two studies (men); Six studies (women)
■ J-shaped pattern (if we imagine we have alcohol consumption on the x axis and BMI on the y axis, people who consume no alcohol have a moderate BMI, those who drank the highest amount had the highest BMIs): Five studies (men); Four studies (women)
■ Positive association (binge drinking only): Four studies (men); Three studies (women)
■ Frequency negatively associated, but intensity positively: Three studies (men); One study (women)
What Longitudinal evidence is there for drinking behaviour and weight? (Traversy & Chaput, 2015)
– In both men and women:
■ No association : Six studies (men); Seven studies (women)
■ Weight gain: Two studies (men); Three studies (women)
■ Increases in drinking positively associated:
Three studies (men); Two studies (women)
■ Positive association only in heavy drinking: Five studies (men); Four studies (women)
-Therefore, there are very mixed and contradicting results
Why are the findings between drinking behaviour and weight inconsistent?
■ The type of drinking behaviour seems to matter
– This can be split into drinking frequency and intensity
■ Drinking frequency – how regularly someone drinks
■ Drinking intensity – how much someone drinks during a drinking episode
– Drinking intensity seems to be a stronger predictor of weight gain (Traversy & Chaput, 2015).
■ Think back to Gough et al (2021)! -
consistent with a dose-dependent
effect of alcohol.
■ Confounding variables
– Compensatory behaviours (e.g., caloric restriction, physical activity)
■ Many studies do not control for these, but individual may use these to maintain energy balance.
What is the link between Compensatory behaviours and Drinking behaviours?
■ Physical activity has been shown to positively correlate with alcohol consumption (Piazza-Gardner & Barry, 2012; Conroy et al., 2015).
■ Females who use exercise as a compensatory mechanism consume higher amounts of alcohol (Buchholz & Crowther, 2014).
■ Other compensatory behaviours may be at play as well.
What evidence is there for people’s knowledge of energy content of
alcoholic drinks? (Robinson et al., 2021)
■ Robinson et al. (2021) – conducted systematic review of studies examining consumer knowledge of energy content of alcoholic drinks.
■ Across eight studies, the proportion of inaccurate calorie estimation responses ranged from 38% - 83% of participants.
■ Six studies also measured the direction of inaccuracy (i.e., measured whether incorrect responses were an underestimation or
overestimation).
■ Four out of the six studies found that overestimation was most common.
■ Bottom line: majority of people are unable to accurately estimate calorie content of alcoholic drinks.
How do consumers respond to
calorie labelling of alcohol products? (Robinson et al., 2021)
■ Robinson et al. (2021) also reviewed experiments which have measured the effect of energy labelling on consumer behaviour.
■ One study (Maynard et al., 2018) found that alcohol calorie labelling did not affect alcohol consumption.
■ Most studies, however, measured intended consumption (rather than actual consumption).
– This is an issue – there is an ‘intention-behaviour’ gap – what one intends to do, does not always equate to what one actually does.
■ Collectively, six experimental studies did not find evidence to show that calorie labelling affects consumer behaviour (both in terms of intention and consumption).
What is the use of Physical Activity
Equivalent (PACE) Labels?
■ Since the Robinson et al. (2021) review, Robinson, Smith, and Jones (2022) investigated the effect of presenting PACE labels on alcoholic drinks, on drinking intentions.
-It’s how much physical work you need to do to burn off the calories of the alcohol
Robinson et al’s (2022) findings:
-Calorie labelling does affect intention AND may be most affective in changing attention behaviours also.
True or False: Some countries are beginning to adopt mandatory alcohol calorie labelling
True
What are the Potential effects of calorie
labelling of alcohol drinks? (Robinson et al., 2023)
3 potential effects:
1. Could prime an individual to think about calories later developing healthier behaviours (i.e., change frequency and type of alcohol consumed).
- Creates awareness there is more calories than expected (change to more non-alcoholic drinks).
- Creates awareness there is less calories than expected (change to amount of energy expended from physical activity i.e., less)
What should future research include in calorie labelling?
■To date, most studies have focused on
intentions rather than actual consumption.
■Although these are correlated, there is a
large intention-behaviour gap.
■More research needs to be conducted which measures actual consumption behaviour.
True or False: More and more young people are abstaining from alcohol
True (specifically 16-24 year olds) BUT young drinkers are most likely to binge drink.
