OBJECTIVE Relationships were studied between emotional, external and restrained eating behavior, and bulimia, and also between these types of eating behavior and body dissatisfaction and drive for thinness. METHOD The sample consisted of female adolescents. Eating behavior and body evaluation were measured with scales of the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ) and the Eating Disorders...

Oral fat sensitivity (OFS, the ability to detect fat) may be related to overeating-induced obesity. However, it is largely unknown whether OFS affects taste preference and eating habits. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate (1) the association between body mass index (BMI) and OFS and (2) the relationship of OFS with four types of taste preference (sweet, sour, salty, and bitter) and eating habits u...

BACKGROUND According to their advocates, neurobiological explanations of overeating, or "food addiction", have the potential to impact public understanding and treatment of obesity. In this study, we examine the public's acceptance of the concept of food addiction as an explanation of overeating and assess its effects upon their attitudes toward obese persons and the treatment of obesity. MET...

The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire Restraint Scale (DEBQ-R) assesses both intentions to restrict food intake (3 items) and actual behavioral restraint (7 items). Studies in general population's samples have shown that the DEBQ-R is a reliable instrument with all items loading highly on a single factor. The purpose of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of a two-fac...

Previous research has related impulsivity to overeating and obesity. However, the precise nature of this relation has not been examined yet. One possibility is that impulsivity causes overeating and hence contributes to overweight. To test this possibility we induced impulsivity versus inhibition to see whether this would affect food intake. In the first study participants were cognitively prim...

The idea that specific kind of foods may have an addiction potential and that some forms of overeating may represent an addicted behavior has been discussed for decades. In recent years, the interest in food addiction is growing and research on this topic lead to more precise definitions and assessment methods. For example, the Yale Food Addiction Scale has been developed for the measurement of...

Neurochemical pathways involved in pathological overeating and obesity are poorly understood. Although previous studies have shown increased μ-opioid receptor (MOR) and decreased dopamine D2 receptor (D2R) availability in addictive disorders, the role that these systems play in human obesity still remains unclear. We studied 13 morbidly obese women [mean body mass index (BMI), 42 kg/m(2)] and 1...

BACKGROUND Impulsivity has been found to be associated with overeating and obesity. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) may enhance inhibitory control while reducing food craving and intake. Thus, the aim of the present study was to investigate whether tDCS stimulation modifies food choice, craving and consumption as a function of trait impulsivity. METHODS Forty-two predominantly ...

OBJECTIVE The aim of the current study was to investigate attention biases for food cues, craving, and overeating in overweight and healthy-weight participants. Specifically, it was tested whether attention allocation processes toward high-fat foods differ between overweight and normal weight individuals and whether selective attention biases for food cues are related to craving and food intake...

Studies examining the etiology of obesity often focus on the relationship between taste, overeating, and the developnlc~r. of obesity. One animal model often used to study obesity, rats with lesions of the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) , is popular because the degree of overeating and obesity in that animal is particularly sensitive to the taste qualities of the food the rat eats. The exagger...