title: What is eating you? Stress and the drive to eat.
abstract: Non-human animal studies demonstrate relationships between stress and selective intake of palatable food. In humans, exposure to laboratory stressors and self-reported stress are associated with greater food intake. Large studies have yet to examine chronic stress exposure and eating behavior. The current study assessed the relationship between stress (perceived and chronic), drive to eat, and reported food frequency intake (nutritious food vs. palatable non-nutritious food) in women ranging from normal weight to obese (N=457). Greater reported stress, both exposure and perception, was associated with indices of greater drive to eat-including feelings of disinhibited eating, binge eating, hunger, and more ineffective attempts to control eating (rigid restraint; r's from .11 to .36, p's<.05). These data suggest that stress exposure may lead to a stronger drive to eat and may be one factor promoting excessive weight gain. Relationships between stress and eating behavior are of importance to public health given the concurrent increase in reported stress and obesity rates.
authors.affiliation: UCSF, Department of Psychiatry, 3333 California St, San Francisco, CA 94118, USA. lisamariegroesz@gmail.com
authors.forename: Lisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Groesz
authors.forename: Shannon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McCoy
authors.forename: Jenna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Carl
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Saslow
authors.forename: Judith
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stewart
authors.forename: Nancy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Adler
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Laraia
authors.forename: Elissa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Epel
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002032:Bulimia / Q000523:psychology; D004032:Diet; D004435:Eating / Q000523:psychology*; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger; D006963:Hyperphagia / Q000523:psychology; D008875:Middle Aged; D050177:Overweight / Q000523:psychology; D019279:Resin Cements; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D019279:Resin Cements; C474194:Self Cure adhesive