Eating Behavior, Stress, and Adiposity: Discordance Between Perception and Physiology

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the interrelationships among stress, eating behavior, and adiposity in a cohort of normal- and overweight individuals. Clinical markers of physiological stress (fasting serum cortisol) and adiposity (body mass index [BMI] and percent body fat) were obtained from participants selected for a natural history protocol ( n = 107). Self-reported data on eating behavior (using the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire subscales such as Cognitive Restraint, Disinhibition, and Hunger) and psychological stress (via the Perceived Stress Scale) were evaluated. Demographic information was incorporated using principal component analysis, which revealed sex- and weight-based differences in stress, adiposity, and eating behavior measures. Following a cross-sectional and descriptive analysis, significant correlations were found between the Disinhibition and Hunger eating behavior subscales and measures of adiposity including BMI ( r = .30, p = .002 and r = .20, p = .036, respectively) and percent body fat ( r = .43, p = .000 and r = .22, p = .022, respectively). Relationships between stress measures and eating behavior were also evident in the analysis. Disinhibition and Hunger correlated positively with perceived stress ( r = .32, p .001 and r = .26, p = .008, respectively). However, Disinhibition varied inversely with serum cortisol levels ( r = -.25, p = .009). Future studies are warranted to better understand this paradox underlying the effects of perceived and physiological stress on eating behavior.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00824941.

Keywords: cortisol; eating behavior; nutrition; stress; weight management.

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.

Conceptual model of biological and personal factors associated with obesity. PSS = Perceived Stress Scale.

Figure 2.

Principal component analysis of clinical variables in the study. Factors 1 and 2 represent condensed versions of the variables. Ovals denote patterns by gender and weight differences. The shaded oval with the solid outline represents a trend in the overweight females.

Figure 3.

Relationships between disinhibition and serum cortisol levels in overweight and normal-weight males and females.

Figure 4.

Relationships between total score on the perceived stress scale (PSS) and both hunger and disinhibition in overweight and normal-weight males and females.