Eating and emotions

M. Macht, Würzburg

The relationships between eating behaviour and emotions are complex and manifold. Emotions affect eating and, conversely, eating and food affect emotions. Effects of emotions on eating vary depending on characteristics of the individual and the emotion.

Most previous studies demonstrated influences of individual characteristics: Restrained and emotional eating predispose the individual to increased food intake in response to negative emotions. Further studies demonstrate influences of emotional characteristics such as intensity and valency.

The present article classifies emotion-induced changes of eating into five types which can be predicted by specified characteristics of the individual and the emotion: emotional control of food choice, emotional inhibition of eating, emotional disinhibition of restrained eating, emotional-instrumental eating, and emotion-congruent modulation of eating. Food-induced changes of emotion are mediated by associative, sensory, energetic, neurochemical and pharmacological mechanisms.

Key words: Eating behaviour /emotions / relationship

Sie finden den Artikel in deutscher Sprache in Ernährungs-Umschau 08/05 ab Seite 304.