Dieting and food craving. A descriptive, quasi-prospective study.
Evidence linking food restriction and food craving is equivocal. This study investigated whether dieting was associated with a greater frequency of food craving. Dieting to lose weight was distinguished from watching so as not to gain weight. Participants were 129 women (mean age=41 yrs): 52 were currently dieting to lose weight, 40 were watching their weight, and 37 were non-dieters. They completed a food craving record after every food craving, a food diary, and a daily mood assessment over 7-days. Of the 393 craving incidents recorded, dieters experienced significantly more food cravings than non-dieters, with watchers intermediate. Chocolate was the most craved food (37% of cravings) but neither the types of food, the proportion of cravings leading to eating (∼70%), the situations in which cravings occurred, nor the time since the last eating episode differed between groups. Compared with non-dieters, dieters experienced stronger cravings that were more difficult to resist, and for foods they were restricting eating. Watchers showed similarities in experience both to dieters (low hunger) and non-dieters (lower craving intensity). These results support an association between dieting and food craving, the usefulness of distinguishing dieting to lose weight and watching, and suggest a need for further experimental investigation of actual food restriction on food craving experiences.
Academic Unit of Psychiatry & Behavioural Sciences, Institute of Health Research, School of Medicine, University of Leeds, 101 Clarendon Road, Leeds LS2 9LJ, UK.
Anna
A
Massey
Andrew J
AJ
Hill
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D001066:Appetite; D001835:Body Weight; D002099:Cacao; D031204:Caloric Restriction / Q000523:psychology*; D004032:Diet / Q000523:psychology*; D015930:Diet Records; D004038:Diet, Reducing / Q000523:psychology*; D004435:Eating; D002149:Energy Intake; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D006815:Hunger; D012927:Social Control, Informal; D015430:Weight Gain; D015431:Weight Loss