Reward sensitivity and food addiction in women
Open accessAbstract
Sensitivity to the rewarding properties of appetitive substances has long been implicated in excessive consumption of palatable foods and drugs of abuse. Previous research focusing on individual differences in reward responsiveness has found heightened trait reward sensitivity to be associated with binge-eating, hazardous drinking, and illicit substance use. Food addiction has been proposed as an extreme form of compulsive-overeating and has been associated with genetic markers of heightened reward responsiveness. However, little research has explicitly examined the association between reward sensitivity and food addiction. Further, the processes by which individual differences in this trait are associated with excessive over-consumption has not been determined. A total of 374 women from the community completed an online questionnaire assessing reward sensitivity, food addiction, emotional, externally-driven, and hedonic eating. High reward sensitivity was significantly associated with greater food addiction symptoms (r = 0.31). Bootstrapped tests of indirect effects found the relationship between reward sensitivity and food addiction symptom count to be uniquely mediated by binge-eating, emotional eating, and hedonic eating (notably, food availability). These indirect effects held even when controlling for BMI, anxiety, depression, and trait impulsivity. This study further supports the argument that high levels of reward sensitivity may offer a trait marker of vulnerability to excessive over-eating, beyond negative affect and impulse-control deficits. That the hedonic properties of food (especially food availability), emotional, and binge-eating behavior act as unique mediators suggest that interventions for reward-sensitive women presenting with food addiction may benefit from targeting food availability in addition to management of negative affect.
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Women with obesity report higher food addiction behaviours, cravings, comorbidity and reward sensitivity than men with obesity.
“For example, women with obesity report higher food addiction behaviours, cravings, comorbidity and reward sensitivity than men with obesity 33, 34, 35.”
From History of early life adversity is associated with increased food addiction and sex-specific alterations in reward network connectivity in obesity (2019) · cites this paper as [33]
Compared with men with high BMI, women with high BMI report higher food addiction behaviours, cravings, comorbidity, reward sensitivity and repeated unsuccessful attempts to maintain weight loss.
“Compared with men with high BMI, women with high BMI report higher food addiction behaviours, cravings, comorbidity, reward sensitivity and repeated unsuccessful attempts to maintain weight loss 33, 34, 35.”
From History of early life adversity is associated with increased food addiction and sex-specific alterations in reward network connectivity in obesity (2019) · cites this paper as [33]
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- Authors
- Loxton, N. J., & Tipman, R. J.
- Affiliations
- Griffith University (AU)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Loxton, Natalie J.
- ORCID
- Loxton, Natalie J.
- Venue
- Appetite
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2017-08
- Volume
- 115
- Pages
- 28-35
- ISSN
- 0195-6663 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2539153322
- Cited by
- 81
- References
- 52
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 10.25
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Appetite (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Griffith Research Online (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
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Regulation of Appetite and Obesity
- Keywords
- reward sensitivity, food addiction, women, binge eating, emotional eating, hedonic eating, food availability, compulsive eating, individual differences, mediation, trait impulsivity, negative affect
- MeSH terms
- Food Addiction, Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Bulimia, Eating, Feeding Behavior, Female, Humans, Hyperphagia, Middle Aged, Surveys and Questionnaires, Reward, Young Adult
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