Acute response and neurophysiological mechanisms of mindfulness meditation in emotional eating.
Journal of Eating Disorders March 31, 2026 Roy Rongyue Zeng, Rangchun Hou, Hiu Yin Lai et al.
Adults who engage in emotional eating show different brain activity during mindfulness meditation compared to those who do not. After three audio-guided mindfulness practices, the emotional eating group had higher frontal midline theta power and lower frontal midline alpha power, particularly during the meditation phase. Two negative correlations emerged only in the emotional eating group: one between changes in frontal midline delta power and emotional eating behaviors, and another between beta-1 power and cognitive reappraisal during meditation. These findings suggest that modulation of frontal midline theta and alpha activity may contribute to the immediate effects of mindfulness meditation on emotional eating, while the clinical significance of the delta activity correlation requires further investigation.