People who are sensitive to food temptations are prone to weight gain and obesity in food-rich environments. Understanding the factors that drive their desire to eat is key to limiting their reactions to available food. This study tested whether individual differences in sensitivity to hedonic food cues are cognitively based and, accordingly, can be regulated by blocking cognitive resources. To...

Food cravings have been understudied in bariatric surgery patients and the Food Craving Questionnaire-Trait has not been validated in this population. Reliability and validity of the FCQ-T were examined and a regression analysis was run to determine whether or not preoperative scores on individual subscales of the instrument could predict weight loss at 6 months. The FCQ-T demonstrated excellen...

There is considerable interest in understanding food cravings given the obesogenic environment of Western Society. In this paper we examine how the imagery of palatable foods affects cravings and functional connectivity in the visual cortex for people who differ on the power of food scale (PFS). Fourteen older, overweight/obese adults came to our laboratory on two different occasions. Both time...

The term “craving” refers to a strong motivational state, which compels an individual to seek and ingest a particular substance (1). It usually refers to alcohol, tobacco, or drugs, but has become increasingly applied to food. Thus, food cravings refer to an intense desire or urge to eat a specific food (2). It is this specificity that distinguishes a craving from ordinary food choices and hung...

OBJECTIVES Calorie restriction via total meal replacement (TMR) results in greater reduction of food cravings compared to reduced-calorie typical diet (TD). Direct evidence of the impact of these interventions on human brain fMRI food-cue reactivity (fMRI-FCR) and functional connectivity is absent. We examined the effects of a 3-week 1120 kcal/d TMR intervention as compared to an iso-caloric TD...

BACKGROUND This pilot study examined whether the addition of a normal protein (NP) vs. high protein (HP) breakfast leads to alterations in food cravings and plasma homovanillic acid (HVA), which is an index of central dopamine production, in overweight/obese 'breakfast skipping' late-adolescent young women. METHODS A randomized crossover design was incorporated in which 20 girls (age 19 ± 1 y...

Background & Aims: Food Craving refers to an intense desire for eating specific foods. Food Craving Questionnaire-Trait (FCQ-T) is the most commonly used instrument to assess food craving as a multidimensional construct. Its 39 items have an underlying nine-factor structure for both the original English and Spanish versions; but subsequent studies yielded fewer factors. The pre...

The study aim was to examine changes in food cue-elicited cravings and the macronutrient content of craved foods across menstrual cycle phases in a non-eating disordered sample. Thirty-five college females attended laboratory sessions in the late follicular and late luteal phases. In each session they completed a measure of state food craving before and after exposure to preferred, high fat/hig...