Emotional eating, depressive symptoms and self-reported food consumption. A population-based study.
Abstract
We examined the associations of emotional eating and depressive symptoms with the consumption of sweet and non-sweet energy-dense foods and vegetables/fruit, also focusing on the possible interplay between emotional eating and depressive symptoms. The participants were 25-64-year-old Finnish men (n=1679) and women (n=2035) from the FINRISK 2007 Study (DILGOM substudy). The Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire-R18, Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and a 132-item Food Frequency Questionnaire were used. Emotional eating and depressive symptoms correlated positively (r=0.31 among men and women), and both were related to a higher body mass. Emotional eating was related to a higher consumption of sweet foods in both genders and non-sweet foods in men independently of depressive symptoms and restrained eating. The positive associations of depressive symptoms with sweet foods became non-significant after adjustment for emotional eating, but this was not the case for non-sweet foods. Depressive symptoms, but not emotional eating, were related to a lower consumption of vegetables/fruit. These findings suggest that emotional eating and depressive symptoms both affect unhealthy food choices. Emotional eating could be one factor explaining the association between depressive symptoms and consumption of sweet foods, while other factors may be more important with respect to non-sweet foods and vegetables/fruit.
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The prevalence of emotional eating in clinical samples of individuals with obesity is higher than in non-clinical samples.
“Although emotional eating was found both in clinical and non-clinical samples, the prevalence of emotional eating in clinical samples of individuals with obesity is higher, since emotional eating has been associated with elevated consumption of high-calories and high fat (Konttinen et al., 2010).”
From The Mediating Role of Psychological Inflexibility in the Relationship Between Anxiety, Depression, and Emotional Eating in Adult Individuals With Obesity (2022) · cites this paper as Konttinen et al., 2010
Emotional eating is strongly related to obesity in adults and younger populations.
“Since emotional eating has been associated with elevated consumption of high-calorie and high fat, it does not surprise that emotional eating was found to be strongly related to obesity [11] both in adults and in the younger population [12, 13].”
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- Authors
- Konttinen, H., Männistö, S., Sarlio-Lähteenkorva, S., Silventoinen, K., & Haukkala, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (FI)
- Corresponding author
- Konttinen, Hanna
- Venue
- Appetite
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2010-06
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 473-479
- ISSN
- 0195-6663 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2086337432
- Cited by
- 546
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 39 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 44 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 52 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 36 · 2017: 42 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 25 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 19.38
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Appetite (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- STM:n Hallinnonalan avoin julkaisuarkisto (Julkari) (submittedVersion)
- WOS
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Eating Disorders and Behaviors
- Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Nutrition, Health and Food Behavior
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet
- Keywords
- emotional eating, depressive symptoms, dietary intake, sweet foods, energy-dense foods, body mass, dietary restraint, unhealthy food choices
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Energy Intake, Depression, Dietary Carbohydrates, Eating, Emotions, Female, Finland, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sex Factors, Diet Records, Body Mass Index, Logistic Models, Waist Circumference
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