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Relationships between intuitive eating and health indicators: Literature review
Van Dyke & Drinkwater (2014) systematically searched through the PubMed, PsycInfo and Science Direct databases to find peer-reviewed journals or theses relevant to “intuitive eating” that also analyze the relationship between intuitive eating and physical/mental health indicators. In this context, intuitive eating was defined as the following: eating while hungry; stopping eating when no longer hungry/full; and having no restrictions on types of food eaten unless for medical reasons. The purpose of this review was to examine the current evidence on the association between intuitive eating and health measures, and to hopefully identify areas of research that warrant investigation. The 26 articles that met the inclusion criteria consisted of 17 cross-sectional survey studies and 9 clinical studies (of which 8 were randomized controlled trials). According to the cross-sectional surveys, intuitive eating was inversely correlated with BMI, but positively associated with several psychological health outcomes. Moreover, increased intuitive eating appeared to be linked with better dietary intake and/or eating behaviors. However, no significant relationship was found with higher levels of physical activity. The clinical studies agreed that implementing intuitive eating improved psychological health, enhanced dietary intake and/or eating behaviours, but probably was not related to higher levels of physical activity. These studies also concluded that intuitive eating results in weight maintenance but possibly not weight loss and may have positive impacts on health indicators such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels. [NPID: intuitive eating, internal hunger, satiety cues, diet quality, blood pressure, cholesterol levels]
Year: 2014
