Adolescent emotions toward sweet food cues as a function of obesity and risky dieting practices

Abstract

This study examined whether poor health habits – those associated with a higher risk of developing eating disorders or obesity – modified adolescents’ emotions toward sweet food cues. We aimed to answer the following questions: Is adolescent obesity accompanied by excessive enjoyment of sweets? Or is any risk habit, regardless its stronger association with obesity or disordered eating, associated with less food enjoyment? 552 Spanish adolescents (279 females) viewed pictures of sweets interspersed with emotional images as controls. Participants recorded their feelings of pleasure, activation, control, and food craving while looking at each picture; then answered questions on their general health, food intake, and physical activity; finally, their body mass index was estimated. We performed MANCOVAs on feelings during sweets, including individual risk habits as factors, and sex, age, and hunger as covariates. We performed the same analysis on emotional and neutral images. Results revealed that among risk habits, obesity and unhealthy dieting practices were accompanied by less enjoyment of sweets (mostly less pleasure and less food craving). On the contrary, risk habits had no effect on adolescents’ feelings during emotional stimuli, unrelated to food. Thus, the presence of habits linked to obesity and disordered eating was associated with reduced reward value of sweet food cues, supporting the need to approach both disorders from an integrative perspective. Consistent with recent prevention strategies, the results suggest the potential role of food enjoyment as a protective factor.