Social facilitation of energy intake in adult women is sustained over three days in a crossover laboratory experiment and is not compensated for under free-living conditions

People eat more when they eat a meal with familiar others than they do when eating alone. However, it is unknown whether eating socially impacts intake over the longer-term. The aim of Study 1 was to examine whether socially facilitated intake is sustained across all meals and across three consecutive days. The aim of Study 2 was to examine whether increased intake during a social meal taken in the laboratory is compensated for under free-living conditions. In Study 1, adult women (n = 26) ate all their meals across three days either with a friend or alone in a counterbalanced cross-over design. In Study 2 adult women (n = 63) consumed a meal in the laboratory either alone or with two friends and then recorded everything they ate and drank for the next three days using electronic food diary software. In Study 1 intake across 3 days was significantly greater in the Social (M = 7310 kcal, SD = 1114) than in the Alone condition (M = 6770 kcal, SD = 974) (F(1,423) = 16.10, p &lt;.001, d = 0.51). In Study 2 participants consumed significantly more in the laboratory when eating with their friends (M = 1209 kcal, SD = 340) than when eating alone (M = 962 kcal, SD = 301) (F(1,63) = 13.28, p =.001, d = 0.77). Analysis of food diary data plus laboratory intake showed that intake remained significantly greater in the Social (M = 6396 kcal, SD = 1470) than in the Alone condition after 4 days (M = 5776 kcal, SD = 1182) (F(1,59) = 5.59, p =.021, d = 0.05). These results show that social facilitation of eating is sustained over three days and suggest that people fail to compensate for the social facilitation of eating.</p

Believing in food addiction: helpful or counter-productive for eating behaviour?

These datasets and SPSS syntax are supporting material to Ruddock, H.K., Christiansen, P., Jones, A., Robinson, E., Field.M., & Hardman, C.A. (in press). Believing in Food Addiction: helpful or counterproductive for eating behavior? Obesity. Objective: Obesity is often attributed to an addiction to food and many people believe them-selves to be “food addicts”. However little is known about how such beliefs may affect dietary control and weight management. The current research examined the impact of experimentally manipulating participants’ personal food addiction beliefs on eating behavior. Methods: In two studies, female participants (Study 1:N=64;Study 2:N=90) completed food-related computerized tasks and were given bogus feedback on their performance which indi-cated that they had high-, low- or average- food addiction tendencies. Food intake was then assessed in an ad-libitum taste test. Dietary concern, and time-taken to complete the taste test, were also recorded in Study 2. Results: In Study 1, participants in the high-addiction condition consumed fewer calories than those in the low-addiction condition, F(1,60)=7.61, p=.008, ηp² =0.11. Study 2 replicated and extended this finding showing that the effect of the high-addiction condition on food intake was mediated by increased dietary concern, which reduced the amount of time participants willingly spent exposed to the foods during the taste test, b=-.06(.03),95% confidence interval(CI) = -.13,-.01. Conclusions: Believing oneself to be a food addict is associated with short-term dietary restriction. The longer-term effects on weight management now warrant attention

Obesity Stigma: Is the ‘Food Addiction’ Label Feeding the Problem?

Obesity is often attributed to an addiction to high-calorie foods. However, the effect of "food addiction" explanations on weight-related stigma remains unclear. In two online studies, participants (n = 439, n = 523, respectively, recruited from separate samples) read a vignette about a target female who was described as 'very overweight'. Participants were randomly allocated to one of three conditions which differed in the information provided in the vignette: (1) in the "medical condition", the target had been diagnosed with food addiction by her doctor; (2) in the "self-diagnosed condition", the target believed herself to be a food addict; (3) in the control condition, there was no reference to food addiction. Participants then completed questionnaires measuring target-specific stigma (i.e., stigma towards the female described in the vignette), general stigma towards obesity (both studies), addiction-like eating behavior and causal beliefs about addiction (Study 2 only). In Study 1, participants in the medical and self-diagnosed food addiction conditions demonstrated greater target-specific stigma relative to the control condition. In Study 2, participants in the medical condition had greater target-specific stigma than the control condition but only those with low levels of addiction-like eating behavior. There was no effect of condition on general weight-based stigma in either study. These findings suggest that the food addiction label may increase stigmatizing attitudes towards a person with obesity, particularly within individuals with low levels of addiction-like eating behavior