Stress and eating: the effects of ego-threat and cognitive demand on food intake in restrained and emotional eaters
Open accessAbstract
Restrained and emotional eaters overeat in response to stress. To compare differential effects of cognitive demand and ego-threatening stressors on subsequent chocolate intake, 38 females completed a neutral (control), an ego threatening and an incongruent Stroop colour-naming task on three separate occasions. Participants were assigned to four groups based on median-split scores on the restrained and emotional eating scales of the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire-high restraint/high emotional, high restraint/low emotional, low restraint/high emotional and low restraint/low emotional. Higher response latencies were observed in the incongruent task, confirming its greater cognitive (attentional) demand. Overall intake was enhanced by 23% after ego-threat and 15% after the incongruent Stroop task relative to control. Restraint was associated with greater intake after both ego-threat and the incongruent task than in the control condition. In contrast, emotional eating was associated with greater intake after only the ego-threat, relative to control. A positive association between reaction time and subsequent intake in all conditions for high restraint/low emotional eaters provided support for the limited capacity hypothesis. Enhanced intake in emotional eaters is proposed to relate to escape from self-awareness. These findings demonstrate differential effects of threat and demand on stress-related eating in restrained and emotional eaters.
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“Keywords Emotional eating; Scale validity; Body mass index; Obesity; Body weight Introduction Emotional eating is generally viewed as a response to negative emotion (Lindeman & Stark, 2001), ego-threat (Wallis & Hetherington, 2004), or distress (van Strien & Ouwens, 2007).”
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“…foods and to inhibit intake of high-fiber, low fat foods in humans (Epel, Lapidus, McEwen, & Brownell, 2001; Oliver, Wardle, & Gibson, 2000; Wallis & Hetherington, 2004, 2009; Zellner et al., 2006; Zellner, Saito, & Gonzalez, 2007) and in animals (Dallman et al., 2003; Pecoraro, Reyes,…”
Negative mood increases selective attention to food cues and subjective appetite
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InfluentialPerceived stress and dietary choices: The moderating role of stress management
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Gluck, M. E. (2006) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2005.05.004 · Cited by 130 · see citing works
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“In contrast, amongnon-emotional eaters, stressors elicit a reduction or no change of eating (Oliver et al., 2000; Wallis and Hetherington, 2004, 2009; Wardle et al., 2000).”
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Calitri, R., Pothos, E. M., Tapper, K., Brunstrom, J. M., & Rogers, P. J. (2010) · Obesity · doi:10.1038/oby.2010.78 · Cited by 116 · see citing works
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“Stress and depression are also associated with emotional eating, which has been described as increased eating in response to negative affect (Lindeman & Stark, 2001), ego-threat (Wallis & Hetherington, 2004), or distress (van Strien & Ouwens, 2007).”
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Self-citationAcute effects of knowledge-based work on feeding behavior and energy intake
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“Emotional eating is thought to be a self-regulation process, where one’s attention is shifted away from negative affect or negative self-appraisals towards an immediately available reward-stimulus such as food [38, 39].”
BackgroundMonroe, J. T. (2015) · American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine · doi:10.1177/1559827615569682 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Is comfort food actually comforting for emotional eaters? A (moderated) mediation analysis
van Strien, T., Gibson, E. L., Baños, R., Cebolla, A., & Winkens, L. H. H. (2019) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.112671 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Raspopow, K., Abizaid, A. B., Matheson, K., & Anisman, H. (2013) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2013.11.018 · Cited by 77 · see citing works
Unhealthy eating and academic stress: The moderating effect of eating style and BMI
Caso, D., Capasso, M., Fabbricatore, R., & Conner, M. T. (2020) · Health Psychology Open · doi:10.1177/2055102920975274 · Cited by 75 · see citing works
“The results of the studies conducted in this area have generally confirmed that restrained eaters are likely to eat more when stressed than when unstressed (Greeno and Wing, 1994; Lattimore and Caswell, 2004; Tanofsky-Kraff et al., 2000; Wallis and Hetherington, 2004).”
ResultHigh/low cortisol reactivity and food intake in people with obesity and healthy weight
Herhaus, B., Ullmann, E., Chrousos, G. P., & Petrowski, K. (2020) · Translational Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41398-020-0729-6 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Leaving a Flat Taste in Your Mouth
van der Wal, R. C., & van Dillen, L. V. (2013) · Psychology Science · doi:10.1177/0956797612471953 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Food and Mood: Just-in-Time Support for Emotional Eating
Carroll, E. A., Czerwinski, M., Roseway, A., Kapoor, A., Johns, P., Rowan, K., & Schraefel, M. C. (2013) · 2013 Humaine Association Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction · doi:10.1109/acii.2013.48 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
Royal, J. D., & Kurtz, J. L. (2010) · Personality and Individual Differences · doi:10.1016/j.paid.2010.04.022 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Werthmann, J., Renner, F., Roefs, A., Huibers, M. J. H., Plumanns, L., Krott, N. R., & Jansen, A. T. M. (2014) · Eating Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2014.02.001 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Systematic review of the effects of acute stress in binge eating disorder
Naish, K. R., Laliberte, M. M., MacKillop, J. M., & Balodis, I. M. (2018) · European Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1111/ejn.14110 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
“The effects of stress on food intake appear to be mediated by dietary restraint, with individuals who are restrained eaters more likely to show increases in food intake when stressed (e.g. Wardle et al., 2000; Wallis & Hetherington, 2004; Zellner et al., 2006).”
BackgroundGokal, K., Munir, F., Ahmed, S. I., Kancherla, K., & Wallis, D. J. (2018) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0206874 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
“A computerised version of the Stroop task [53] was used to measure executive function in two blocks.”
MethodSelf-citationPark, S., Daily, J. W., Zhang, X., Jin, H., Lee, H. J., & Lee, Y. H. (2016) · Nutrition & Metabolism · doi:10.1186/s12986-016-0096-8 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
“People differ in their preferences for spicy, oily, or sweet foods as comfort foods when stressed [40].”
BackgroundStress Reactivity and Adiposity of Youth
Roemmich, J. N., Smith, J. R., Epstein, L. H., & Lambiase, M. J. (2007) · Obesity · doi:10.1038/oby.2007.273 · Cited by 60 · see citing works
Coumans, J. M. J., Danner, U. N., Intemann, T., Decker, A. D., Hadjigeorgiou, C. A., Hunsberger, M. L., Moreno, L. A., Russo, P., Stomfai, S., Veidebaum, T., et al. (2017) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2017.12.018 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
“This result is consistent with the scarce literature that is available that shows that emotional eating is related to a higher frequency of sweet and savoury foods, especially under stress (Konttinen et al., 2010; Oliver et al., 2000; Wallis & Hetherington, 2004).”
Boggiano, M. M., Wenger, L. E., Turan, B., Tatum, M. M., Sylvester, M. D., Morgan, P. R., Morse, K. E., & Burgess, E. E. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00744 · Cited by 58 · see citing works
“A limitation of the present study is that the degree of dietary restriction was not assessed as it is a common mediator of stress-induced eating (Oliver et al., 2000; Wallis and Hetherington, 2004; Boggiano et al., 2005) and possibly a mediator of eating to cope.”
BackgroundResultHunger, inhibitory control and distress-induced emotional eating
van Strien, T., Ouwens, M. A., Engel, C., & de Weerth, C. (2014) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2014.04.020 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
“However, so-called emotional eaters show the atypical response to distress of eating similar or larger amounts of food (Oliver, Wardle, & Gibson, 2000; van Strien et al., 2013a; van Strien, Herman, Anschutz, Engels, & de Weerth, 2012a; van Strien & Ouwens, 2003; Wallis & Hetherington, 2004).”
BackgroundLópez‐Guimerà, G., Dashti, H. S., Smith, C. E., Sánchez‐Carracedo, D., Ordovás, J. M., & Garaulet, M. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0099152 · Cited by 55 · see citing works
“Moreover, our baseline findings are consistent with previous cross-sectional and experimental studies suggesting that emotional eaters have higher BMI than non-emotional eaters, and consume more sweet and energy-dense foods [19,21– 23,47,48].”
ResultFood Addiction Is Associated with Irrational Beliefs via Trait Anxiety and Emotional Eating
Nolan, L. J., & Jenkins, S. M. (2019) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu11081711 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
“Emotional eating is generally viewed as a response to negative emotion or distress [32,33] or ego-threat [34], and has been associated with overeating, binge eating, bulimia nervosa, and obesity (see [32]).”
BackgroundKeller, C., & Siegrist, M. (2015) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2014.11.024 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Dakin, C. A., Beaulieu, K., Hopkins, M., Gibbons, C., Finlayson, G., & Stubbs, R. J. (2022) · Obesity Reviews · doi:10.1111/obr.13515 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
Individual determinants of emotional eating: A simultaneous investigation.
Mantau, A., Hattula, S., & Bornemann, T. (2018) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2018.07.015 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Long, S. J., Meyer, C., Leung, N., & Wallis, D. J. (2010) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2010.12.018 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
“Following standard protocol (e.g. Wallis & Hetherington, 2004, 2009) in order to minimise any condition differences”
BackgroundMethodSelf-citationSevinçer, G. M., & Konuk, N. (2013) · Journal of Mood Disorders · doi:10.5455/jmood.20130926052526 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Globalization and modernization: an obesogenic combination
Huneault, L., Mathieu, M.-E., & Tremblay, A. (2011) · Obesity Reviews · doi:10.1111/j.1467-789x.2010.00817.x · Cited by 48 · see citing works
“An increase in desire to eat with mental work was observed in our preliminary case study (33), which agrees with the results of Wallis and Hetherington who reported a 15% increase in chocolate intake after a cognitive task compared with a control session (42).”
ResultThe effect of academic stress and attachment stress on stress-eaters and stress-undereaters
Emond, M. H., Eycke, K. T., Kosmerly, S., Robinson, A. L., Stillar, A., & Blyderveen, S. V. (2016) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2016.01.035 · Cited by 48 · see citing works
“Common methods for inducing stress in a laboratory setting include inducing a high cognitive load on the participants (Lattimore, 2001; Wallis & Hetherington, 2004, 2009), or having the participants recall a recent stressful event (Sinha, Catapano, & O'Malley, 1999).”
MethodDiscrepancies Between Implicit and Explicit Motivation and Unhealthy Eating Behavior
Job, V., Oertig, D., Brandstätter, V., & Allemand, M. (2010) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00648.x · Cited by 48 · see citing works
Physical activity and body functionality: implications for obesity prevention and treatment
Tremblay, A., & Therrien, F. (2006) · Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology · doi:10.1139/y05-132 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
“This is also consistent with the results of Wallis and Hetherington (2004), who reported that chocolate intake was increased by 15% after a cognitive task (Stroop Test) compared with a control session (Wallis and Hetherington 2004).”
ResultDo Emotions Cause Eating? The Role of Previous Experiences and Social Context in Emotional Eating
Altheimer, G., & Urry, H. L. (2019) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/0963721419837685 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
Negative affect is associated with increased stress-eating for women with high perceived life stress
Klatzkin, R. R., Dasani, R., Warren, M., Cattaneo, C., Nadel, T., Nikodem, C., & Kissileff, H. R. (2019) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2019.112639 · Cited by 47 · see citing works
“PLS and cognitive restraint are associated with increased stress-induced comfort food intake and ultimately weight gain and obesity [13,33,35,38,53,56,58,60].”
BackgroundEmotional eating and Pavlovian learning: Does negative mood facilitate appetitive conditioning?
Bongers, P., van den Akker, K., Havermans, R. C., & Jansen, A. T. M. (2015) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2015.02.018 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
“…stress, anxiety or sadness, in dieters (Cools, Schotte, & McNally, 1992; Heatherton, Herman, & Polivy, 1991; Loxton, Dawe, & Cahill, 2011; Wallis & Hetherington, 2004), obese people (Patel & Schlundt, 2001; Schneider, Appelhans, Whited, Oleski, & Pagoto, 2010), and obese binge eaters (Agras &…”
Fogel, A. M., McCrickerd, K., Fries, L. R., Goh, A. T., Quah, P. L., Chan, M. J., Toh, J. Y., Chong, Y. S., Tan, K. H., Yap, F. K. P., et al. (2018) · Physiology & Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2018.03.033 · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Stress and the Theory of Planned Behavior: Understanding Healthy and Unhealthy Eating Intentions
Louis, W. R., Chan, M. K. H., & Greenbaum, S. (2009) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/j.1559-1816.2008.00447.x · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Liboredo, J. C., Anastácio, L. R., Ferreira, L. G., Oliveira, L. A., & Lúcia, C. M. D. (2021) · Frontiers in Nutrition · doi:10.3389/fnut.2021.704619 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
“Studies have attempted to identify the influence of emotions on food consumption (27, 28).”
BackgroundGrajek, M. K., Krupa-Kotara, K. H., Białek-Dratwa, A., Staśkiewicz‐Bartecka, W., Rozmiarek, M., Misterska, E., & Sas-Nowosielski, K. (2022) · Nutrients · doi:10.3390/nu14163289 · Cited by 41 · see citing works
“Feelings of stress influenced food choices toward more palatable and less healthy meals [49,50], while motivation to eat to regulate negativity was associated with an unhealthy eating pattern [51].”
BackgroundElshahat, S., Moffat, T., Gagnon, O., Charkatli, L., & Gomes-Szoke, E. D. (2023) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2023.106463 · Cited by 37 · see citing works
André, B., Canhão, H. M., Espnes, G. A., Rodrigues, A. M., Gregório, M. J., Nguyen, C., de Sousa, R. D., & Grønning, K. (2016) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2016.12.016 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
The validity of the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire: some critical remarks
Domoff, S. E., Meers, M. R., Koball, A. M., & Musher‐Eizenman, D. R. (2013) · Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia Bulimia and Obesity · doi:10.1007/s40519-013-0087-y · Cited by 36 · see citing works
“In another study, Wallis and Hetherington [20] found self-reported emotional eating predicted perceived food intake.”
BackgroundResponse style and vulnerability to anger-induced eating in obese adults
Appelhans, B. M., Whited, M. C., Schneider, K. L., Oleski, J. L., & Pagoto, S. (2010) · Eating Behaviors · doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2010.08.009 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
“The notion that emotional eatingmay be viewed as a strategy employed to compensate for maladaptive response strategies is consistent with “escape theory” and affect regulatory explanations of emotional eating (Wallis & Hetherington, 2004).”
BackgroundResultHong, Z., Luo, X., Cai, T., Li, Z., & Liu, W. (2014) · Appetite · doi:10.1016/j.appet.2014.06.106 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
“…Musher-Eizenman, Leporc, Holub, & Charles, 2009; Faith, Scanlon, Birch, Francis, & Sherry, 2004; Topham et al., 2011) and personal factors, including stress level, stress coping styles, and personality (Elfhag & Morey, 2008; Larsen, van Strien, Eisenga, & Engels, 2006; Wallis & Hetherington, 2004).”
Influence of emotions evoked by life events on food choice
Aguiar-Bloemer, A. C., & Garcia, R. W. D. (2017) · Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia Bulimia and Obesity · doi:10.1007/s40519-017-0468-8 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Relationship between emotional eating and coping with stress of nursing students
Ertem, M., & Karakaş, M. (2020) · Perspectives In Psychiatric Care · doi:10.1111/ppc.12599 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
“26 Beiter et al 27 suggested that sources of anxiety and stressors in individuals between ages 18 and 24 were related to academic performance, the pressure to succeed, and postgraduation concerns.”
- Authors
- Wallis, D. J., & Hetherington, M. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Liverpool (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Hetherington, M.M.
- Venue
- Appetite
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2004-08
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 39-46
- ISSN
- 0195-6663 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1996434438
- Cited by
- 278
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 15 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 19 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 22 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 9.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- dspace.lboro.ac.uk
- Licence
- cc-by-nc-nd
- www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
- Locations
- Appetite (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DMU Open Research Archive (De Montfort University) (submittedVersion)
- Loughborough University Institutional Repository (Loughborough University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Loughborough University Research Repository (Loughborough University) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Keywords
- stress eating, ego threat, cognitive demand, dietary intake, dietary restraint, emotional eating, Stroop task, self-awareness, reaction time
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Analysis of Variance, Appetite, Eating, Ego, Feeding Behavior, Female, Humans, Internal-External Control, Interpersonal Relations, Netherlands, Surveys and Questionnaires, Stress, Psychological
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