Calorie intake and gambling: Is fat and sugar consumption ‘impulsive’?

Research on interactions between calorie intake, gambling, and impulsive and addictive-related behaviors is limited. Thus, Chamberlain et al. (2017) investigate the relationship between fat/sugar consumption with gambling behaviors and other psychopathology measures related to addiction. The study discovered a correlation between increased fat and sugar intake with lower education levels and being male. However, a significant negative association was revealed after controlling for these variables between sugar and fat intake with gambling and anxiety scores. Additionally, consuming more sugar was strongly related to higher depressive scores, greater alcohol consumption, lower self-esteem, and increased prevalence of one or more mental disorders. While the research team did not find significant relationships between dietary sugar and fat with ADHD symptoms, presence of impulse control disorders, Barratt impulsiveness, or cognitive functioning, these overall findings suggest fat/sugar consumption is strongly linked with symptoms of gambling pathology, but not so much with other aspects of impulsivity and behavioral addiction investigated. However, alcohol intake is an exception. This study proposes that education on healthy eating may be crucial in communities heavily influenced by gambling. The mediating mechanisms between calorie intake and gambling symptoms (e.g. determining the influences of environmental factors or joint dysfunction of brain reward pathways) should be considered in future research. [NPID: stress, gambling, impulsiveness, impulsivity, fat, sugar, education status, alcohol, self-esteem, ADHD, reward]

Year: 2017

Reference: Chamberlain, S. R., A Redden, S., & Grant, J. E. (2017). Calorie Intake and Gambling: Is Fat and Sugar Consumption 'Impulsive'?. Journal of gambling studies, 33(3), 783–793. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10899-016-9647-1

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