Nutritional psychology

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The diet psychology is a scientific discipline that nutritional science and psychology connects. It was created in the 1970s. One representative in Germany was the nutritionist Volker Pudel . Research focuses on the biological and psychological mechanisms that trigger hunger , thirst and appetite and influence people's eating behavior. Some nutritional psychologists focus on research into pleasure and disgust .

According to Pudel, nutritional psychology should contribute to the understanding of human eating behavior and harmful variants, research the effects of food ingredients on the psyche , but also develop models that influence the nutritional behavior of the population in the sense of "healthy nutrition".

research

Eating behavior

Eating behavior is a biopsychosocial process with various specific behaviors related to food consumption. These behaviors have motor, emotional, and cognitive facets.

Important aspects of eating habits are food choice, aversion to foods or flavors, vegetarianism and veganism, and restrictive eating habits.

Nutritional psychology builds on the findings of biology on the basic needs of the body and the development of hunger and thirst as well as the effect of satiety . However, it is assumed that eating behavior is not only controlled by these so-called primary needs , but also by secondary needs . The taste preferences are also researched, whereby the preference for sweets is already an instinct in newborns ; Bitter and sour foods are initially rejected. In the course of socialization , however , the individual taste is influenced, changed and shaped, whereby the respective cultural area plays an important role.

Volker Pudel has developed a three-component model to explain eating behavior, whereby the components influence each other and play a different role according to age. The influencing factors are internal signals (internal control) such as hunger and satiety, external stimuli (external control) and rational or pseudo-rational attitudes (cognitive control) that determine the choice of food and eating behavior as a whole. Upbringing is also counted among the external stimuli.

eating disorder

Psychological research on eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia and binge eating has become increasingly important in recent years . Around three to five percent of the German population suffer from an eating disorder.

Anorexia Nervosa is diagnosed as soon as the person's body weight is below 15% of the expected normal weight and they still fear being or becoming overweight.

Bulimia nervosa patients experience sudden bouts of binge eating, in which they consume excessive amounts of food without control. Then they try different methods (e.g. vomiting) to prevent the weight gain.

Similar to bulimia, binge eating occurs regularly, but patients keep what they have eaten with them. You do without methods of laxation, but suffer from severe symptoms of stress. These types of eating disorders often come in mixed forms.

In the case of disturbed eating behavior, primary motives such as hunger and satiety play a completely subordinate role for food intake. The research disputes which factors lead to internal regulation mechanisms being overridden.

Nutritional psychologists are also familiar with the term “restrained eating behavior”, which lies in an intermediate zone between “normal eating behavior” and an eating disorder. In this eating behavior, too, cognitive control and thus rational control predominate. This type of food includes both very health-conscious eaters and people who repeatedly go on a reduction diet. According to research, they tend to eat more than usual, especially when they are stressed and in a bad mood, so that they are then prone to "unrestrained eating behavior" and attacks of cravings . Here, too, external stimuli and rational motives play a greater role than internal control. Restrained eaters can be found among both normal and overweight people . For many overweight or already obese "restrained eaters", a diet can often be unsuccessful if its suppression of food intake is uninhibited and they then no longer have it under control. Stressful situations in everyday life or in exceptional events can have a disinhibiting effect. The most serious, however, seem to be situations in which self-esteem suffers or one doubts one's own abilities. This can lead to weight gain instead of the desired loss and in the long term develop into life-threatening eating disorders.

Food preferences

The taste preference for sweets is innate; from the fourth month of life, babies can taste salt ; the flavors bitter and sour are still rejected by small children. Most nutrition psychologists assume that individual taste preferences arise through habit and that preference is given to eating what is already known and familiar. The socialization through the family and the eating habits of the respective cultural area are therefore decisive . If the diet is very monotonous, however, the opposite effect can also occur due to psychological oversaturation. The familiar is then no longer preferred, but rejected.

In nutritional psychology, the main motives for choosing food are:

  • taste
  • hunger
  • economic conditions ( special offers )
  • cultural influences (national cuisine)
  • Tradition (e.g. Christmas dinner)
  • habitual conditions (habit)
  • emotional impact
  • social reasons ( e.g. coffee party )
  • Supply situation (for example in the canteen )
  • Health reasons
  • Ideals of beauty ( diet )
  • compatibility
  • Fear of harm (avoidance of harmful substances)

Food and emotions

There are a number of scientific studies that prove an influence of emotions on the perception of feelings of hunger and eating behavior, whereby emotions can have both inhibiting and promoting effects. The experience that food intake is associated with affective stimuli and triggers feelings already arises in infants, both when breastfeeding and when feeding with the bottle. Some psychologists therefore assume that the eating behavior of adults cannot be permanently changed without taking into account the associated feelings.

The main findings and theories of emotion research are: Emotional eating is not about biological, physical hunger, but about intense emotions such as fear as well as anger and sadness that affect the desire to eat. The food is used to dampen it for a deeper feeling. An emotional eating disorder can manifest itself through a continuously increased food intake, the so-called "level eating", through constant behavior control such as diet, exercise or constant self-discipline, as in the case of the "thin fat people", or through regular eating attacks.

In so-called "restrained eaters", however, emotions can lead to increased food intake because they temporarily override internal control. This was shown in experimental trials. Negative emotions reduce the enjoyment of eating, while joy increases it, as it increases the receptivity to external stimuli. So-called "frustration eaters" try to regulate their emotions with the help of food, preferably high-fat or sweet foods. In general, a connection between a misguided handling of negative emotions and stress and the development of eating disorders is assumed in the specialist literature . There is the term emotional eating for it .

According to current knowledge, emotions not only have an influence on eating behavior, but conversely, eating behavior also influences emotions. The underlying mechanisms have not yet been fully researched. One factor is smell and taste sensations, another is associations that are linked to certain foods and, for example, awaken childhood memories. Various ingredients in food are also being researched, for example their effect on serotonin levels in the brain. A high serotonin concentration has a mood-enhancing effect.

literature

  • Christoph Klotter: Introduction to Nutritional Psychology , Uni-Taschenbücher 2017. ISBN 978-3-8252-4790-4 .
  • Alexandra W. Logue: The psychology of eating and drinking , Spektrum Verlag 1998, ISBN 3-827-40393-6
  • Volker Pudel / Joachim Westenhöfer: Nutritional Psychology . An introduction , Hogrefe-Verlag, 3rd edition 2003, ISBN 3-801-70912-4
  • Gerrig, RJ (2016). The psychology of food. In RJ Gerrig (Ed.), Psychologie (pp. 429-433). Hallbergmoos, Germany: Pearson, ISBN 978-3-86894-216-3

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schweiger, U., & Sipos, V., & (2020, August 20). Eating behavior. In Dorsch Lexikon der Psychologie. Retrieved from: dorsch.hogrefe.com/stichwort/essbehavior
  2. ↑ DGE: Food and Psyche
  3. ^ Maria Sanchez: Sehnsucht und Hunger , 2nd revised edition, Envela Verlag 2010, ISBN 978-3-981330847
  4. ↑ cf. Ulrich Kuntz / Andreas Hillert, Eating Disorders, 2008, p. 38