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Mindfulness, mental health, and motives for eating tasty foods when not in metabolic need.

Katherine G Moore, Justess D Rice, John E Gampher, Mary M Boggiano

Frontiers in Psychology 2023 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1308609 (opens in new tab)

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Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Cross-sectional survey Peer reviewed
Sample size 927
Population Young adults
Measures Palatable Eating Motives Scale-7, Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, Perceived Stress Scale
Topics Meditation
Keywords Coping Eating behavior Hedonic Mindfulness-based interventions Non-homeostatic Obesity Palatable Psychiatric disorder
Key findings Lower trait mindfulness was independently associated with Coping-eating and was the only variable independently associated with Reward-, Social-, and Conformity-eating. Coping- and Reward-eating were more frequent in participants reporting anxiety disorder, depression, ADD/ADHD, or PTSD, and Coping-eating was also more frequent in those with body dysmorphic disorder. The authors argue these findings warrant investigation using clinically validated diagnoses.

Abstract

Habitual consumption of highly palatable foods when not in metabolic need (HPF eating) is linked to obesity. High HPF consumption is also linked to mental health disorder (MHD) symptoms. Mindfulness-based interventions are popular treatments for obesity and MHDs, but little is known about the relationship between trait mindfulness and motive-based HPF eating. Therefore, a total of 927 young adults completed a survey that included the Palatable Eating Motives Scale-7 (which identifies Coping-, Reward enhancement-, Social-, and Conformity-eating), the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, and demographic and body mass index (BMI) questions. An MHD questionnaire allowed a comparison of HPF eating between participants with and without various MHDs. Regressions revealed that Coping-eating was independently associated with lower mindfulness and also greater perceived stress, higher BMI, and female sex. Of these variables, only lower mindfulness was independently associated with Reward-, Social-, and Conformity-eating. Coping- and Reward-eating were more frequent in participants with versus without an anxiety disorder, depression, ADD/ADHD, and PTSD. Coping-eating was also more frequent in participants with body dysmorphic disorder. These findings warrant investigations in participants with clinically validated diagnoses for DSM-specific MHDs. Results from such investigations and the uncovered nature of associations between motive-specific HPF eating and trait mindfulness could provide novel targets to improve mindfulness-based interventions for obesity and MHDs.

Comparable studies

Other cross-sectional and survey studies on meditation, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Construct Validity of the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire in Meditating and Nonmeditating Samples Experienced meditators and nonmeditating comparison groups 2008 Cross-sectional study
Neural Correlates of Dispositional Mindfulness During Affect Labeling Adult participants 2007 Observational cross-sectional n = 27
Assessing mindfulness in children and adolescents: Development and validation of the Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM). School-aged children and adolescents 2011 Cross-sectional validation study n = 1,413
Mindfulness and self-compassion as predictors of psychological wellbeing in long-term meditators and matched nonmeditators Experienced meditators and demographically matched nonmeditators 2012 Cross-sectional study n = 152
Mechanisms of Action in the Inverse Relationship Between Mindfulness and Psychological Distress Undergraduates 2008 Cross-sectional, correlational

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Meditation Anxiety Depression PTSD