Food cravings, food addiction viewed differently

Low-income women with preschool-aged children regard food cravings and food addiction as common behavior, but view food cravings with humor and not something to be resisted, according to Nipher M. Malika and her associates.

Study participants viewed food craving as a strong desire for food and as an acceptable behavior that did needed to be neither changed nor resisted. In fact, food cravings were viewed as a source of humor in nearly all of the interviews conducted by the investigators. In contrast, food addiction was treated as much more serious and distinct from food cravings, and was viewed as a behavioral failing rather than a moral one. Participants considered it possible for children to have food addictions but only if parents indulged their children’s cravings.

Previous efforts at reducing food cravings focused on strategies based on mindfulness and the assumption that people attempt to resist cravings. However, the study’s results “suggest that these intervention approaches may not be effective for obesity prevention in some demographic groups such as the low-income women we interviewed,” the investigators said.

Find the full study in Eating Behaviors (doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2015.03.005).

Low-income women with preschool-aged children regard food cravings and food addiction as common behavior, but view food cravings with humor and not something to be resisted, according to Nipher M. Malika and her associates.

Study participants viewed food craving as a strong desire for food and as an acceptable behavior that did needed to be neither changed nor resisted. In fact, food cravings were viewed as a source of humor in nearly all of the interviews conducted by the investigators. In contrast, food addiction was treated as much more serious and distinct from food cravings, and was viewed as a behavioral failing rather than a moral one. Participants considered it possible for children to have food addictions but only if parents indulged their children’s cravings.

Previous efforts at reducing food cravings focused on strategies based on mindfulness and the assumption that people attempt to resist cravings. However, the study’s results “suggest that these intervention approaches may not be effective for obesity prevention in some demographic groups such as the low-income women we interviewed,” the investigators said.

Find the full study in Eating Behaviors (doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2015.03.005).

Low-income women with preschool-aged children regard food cravings and food addiction as common behavior, but view food cravings with humor and not something to be resisted, according to Nipher M. Malika and her associates.

Study participants viewed food craving as a strong desire for food and as an acceptable behavior that did needed to be neither changed nor resisted. In fact, food cravings were viewed as a source of humor in nearly all of the interviews conducted by the investigators. In contrast, food addiction was treated as much more serious and distinct from food cravings, and was viewed as a behavioral failing rather than a moral one. Participants considered it possible for children to have food addictions but only if parents indulged their children’s cravings.

Previous efforts at reducing food cravings focused on strategies based on mindfulness and the assumption that people attempt to resist cravings. However, the study’s results “suggest that these intervention approaches may not be effective for obesity prevention in some demographic groups such as the low-income women we interviewed,” the investigators said.

Find the full study in Eating Behaviors (doi:10.1016/j.eatbeh.2015.03.005).