McKay NJ, Horvatits EJ, Jean M, Doyle JT, Harrington MP, Amir US, Carr KA. An acute social stressor decreases reinforcing value of both high and low energy-dense food in college students in a randomized controlled trial.
Physiol Behav 2024;
279:114531. [PMID:
38552705 DOI:
10.1016/j.physbeh.2024.114531]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2023] [Revised: 03/06/2024] [Accepted: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/09/2024]
Abstract
It is well known that a large portion of the population elevates their intake of high energy-dense foods during times of stress; however, it is understudied whether stress affects the reinforcing value of a food reward. Further knowledge of this relationship may help us better understand the positive correlation between reinforcing value of food and obesity. Therefore, it was tested if an acute stressor would increase the reinforcing value of low or high energy-dense food. Participants (N = 70) were randomized to a stress or no-stress condition after which they were allowed to work to gain access to a food reward and reading time. To determine if high energy-dense food was specifically affected, half the participants from each stress manipulation were randomly assigned to work for either grapes or chocolate candies. Participants in the stress condition worked less for food access than those in the no-stress condition, for both low and high energy-dense foods, but stress did not affect the reinforcing value of reading time. These results indicate that, contrary to our hypothesis, in a sample of college students, an acute stressor decreased reinforcing value of food, with no difference between a low and high energy-dense food item.
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