Hedonic Hunger and Pleasure Eating
Once a month, Women’s Health Magazine is delivered to my house and while flipping through the pages recently, a picture caught my eye. A flawless face with soft, pink eye shadow is delicately biting into a decadent vanilla cupcake with baby pink frosting and multi-colored, sphere-shaped sprinkles. A paragraph accompanies this picture and briefly describes “hedonic hunger” – or what could loosely be considered a food craving.
According to the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, hedonic hunger refers to consumption of food for pleasure, not to maintain energy homeostasis. In this state, one consumes food as a reward, not because their body needs the energy. I’m sure it has happened to you before when you are eating a mouth-watering dinner or sugar-coated dessert and even though you are unbutton-your-pants full, you cannot stop the fork from spearing another bite.
A study was conducted to determine the why we over-eat in this manner. Plasma levels were measured after eight subjects consumed their fill of highly palatable food and again after nonpalatable food that provided the same amount of energy as the palatable foods.
It was determined that a peptide (ghrelin) and an endocannabinoid (2-arachidonoyl-glycerol) were the only two chemicals to increase after consumption of food for pleasure. While more research needs to be done to fully understand this mechanism, it is safe to say when fresh-from-the-oven chocolate chip cookies are staring you in the face, there is a good chance Mrs. Ghrelin and Mr. 2-arachidonoyl-glycerol will take over and you don’t stand a chance against those cookies!
In a separate study, the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism investigated the relationship between sleep deprivation and hedonic hunger. While many dietitians know that lack of sleep is associated with overeating, many Americans may not realize their sleep schedule can contribute to their cravings. In short, the objective was to monitor brain activity responses to images of food after one night of total sleep versus complete sleep deprivation. The results reinforce the fact that acute sleep loss enhances a similar hedonic hunger stimulus that motivates food consumption without hunger.
Looking at these studies gives more insight to the growing rates of obesity in America. We live in an almost constant state of hustle-and-bustle , rushing to school or work, eating on the run, and go, go, go! With that, Americans lead a relatively sedentary lifestyle; many do not meet the guidelines for physical activity. Unfortunately, we are hard-wired to eat for pleasure and to consume more food when we don’t get a restful night sleep. Next time you find yourself in these situations, resist the high fat, high sugar foods and choose (or pack) healthier options; or distract yourself for about 20 minutes and the cravings should subside!
P.S. It was ironic that I wanted to reach into the picture and take a cupcake too! I did not feel a tinge of hunger until I saw that picture.
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