Hedonic hunger: a new dimension of appetite?

Lowe & Butyrn (2007) discuss the phenomenon called hedonic hunger, which is the elevated appetite a person feels due to the food environment. The psychological effect of hedonic hunger is said to be similar to that felt when undertaking activities such as compulsive gambling and drug use. The drive for pleasure (hedonism) is increased. It had been assumed that when a normal-weight individual tries to restrict food intake in order to lose or maintain weight, the irregular appetite is due to the dys-homeostasis (imbalance in diet-related systems) induced by the diet. However, the writers of this article review studies that may suggest that the deviation in appetite levels are more likely to be a result of hedonic hunger (eating less than wanted rather than less than required). This report also describes the Power of Food Scale (PFS), a measure of individual variation in appetitive responsiveness to rewarding properties of the food environment. According to preliminary evidence, this measure is valid and reliable, and when combined with altering food availability and modifying palatability, could be a promising approach to studying hedonic hunger. [NPID: behavior, hedonic hunger, food environment, addiction, compulsion, reward, palatability]

Year: 2007

Reference: Lowe, M. R., & Butryn, M. L. (2007). Hedonic hunger: a new dimension of appetite?. Physiology & behavior, 91(4), 432–439. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2007.04.006

Related Studies

Nutrition behaviour and compliance with the Mediterranean diet pyramid recommendations: An Italian survey-based study

Bracale et al. (2020) conducted a 14-question survey based on the updated Mediterranean diet pyramid to determine the respondents’ eating behaviors and compliance to the Mediterranean-like dietary pattern since this habit may help prevent certain chronic diseases. While this cross-sectional study targeted subjects over the age of 19, the vast majority of participants (75.6%) were […]

Hedonic hunger is related to increased neural and perceptual responses to cues of palatable food and motivation to consume: Evidence from 3 independent investigations

Here, Burger et al. (2016) analyzes the construct of hedonic hunger (high appetitive drive in response to food cues) using the data taken from 3 separate studies. The plan was to identify correlations between the Power of Food Scale (PFS) scores and neural responsivities during consumption, with perceptual hedonic (pleasure) ratings of food images, the […]