The Role of Emotional Arousal in Food Preference and Taste

Not Applicable

Completed

Interventions: Behavioral: Stress Imagery
Behavioral: Food Cue Imagery
Behavioral: Neutral-Relaxing

Brief Summary: The purpose of this study is to examine the role of stress in food craving and food consumption in obesity. Using experimentally validated guided imagery procedure, the investigators propose to examine the stress response using subjective, physiological and neurobiological measurements.

Detailed Description: One hundred and fifty men and women will participate in three laboratory sessions to assess stress responses to personal stress imagery, food cue imagery, and to neutral-relaxing imagery. Subjects will be distributed into 3 groups stratified by BMI category. Subject recruitment, eligibility determination, baseline assessments and script development will be conducted at the Yale Stress Center. Subjects will complete a variety of diagnostic, cognitive and psychological assessments, a comprehensive physical examination and blood work and will be involved in development of imagery scripts from personal stress, food cue and neutral-relaxing situations. Subjects will then be scheduled for three laboratory sessions at the Yale Stress Center. Subjects will also participate in an imagery and relaxation training session followed by three laboratory sessions. The three laboratory sessions will be conducted within a brief interval of days, when subjects will be exposed to a personal stress, a food cue and a neutral-relaxing imagery condition, one condition per day. The order of imagery conditions will be randomly assigned and counterbalanced across subjects in order to balance any influences due to order of imagery conditions.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria

Between ages 18-45 years
Able to read and write
Normal/lean BMI group: BMI 18.5-24.9 as calculated based on height and weight.
Overweight BMI group: BMI 25.0 - 29.9 as calculated based on height and weight Obese BMI group: BMI 30-35 as calculated based on height and weight.
Do not meet criteria for any current Axis I DSM-IV psychiatric diagnoses and provide negative urine toxicology screens during initial appointments and at admission for laboratory sessions.

Exclusion Criteria

Meet current criteria for dependence on any psychoactive substance, including nicotine and caffeine
Current use of any psychoactive drugs, including anxiolytics, antidepressants, naltrexone or antabuse
Any psychotic disorder or current psychiatric symptoms requiring specific attention, including need for psychiatric medications for current major depression and anxiety disorders
Any significant current medical condition such as neurological, cardiovascular, endocrine, renal, liver, thyroid pathology; subjects on medications for any medical condition will be excluded
Women on oral contraceptives, peri and post menopausal women, and those with hysterectomies
Pregnant and lactating women will be excluded.

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Normal Weight	Neutral-Relaxing	BMI18.5-24.9 (normal range)
Obese	Food Cue Imagery	body mass index between 30 and 35 (obese range)
Obese	Neutral-Relaxing	body mass index between 30 and 35 (obese range)
Normal Weight	Food Cue Imagery	BMI18.5-24.9 (normal range)
Overweight	Stress Imagery	body mass index between 25.0 - 29.9 (overweight range)
Overweight	Food Cue Imagery	body mass index between 25.0 - 29.9 (overweight range)
Normal Weight	Stress Imagery	BMI18.5-24.9 (normal range)
Overweight	Neutral-Relaxing	body mass index between 25.0 - 29.9 (overweight range)
Obese	Stress Imagery	body mass index between 30 and 35 (obese range)

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Food Craving based on the Food Craving Inventory	60 minutes	An abbreviated assessment base don the Food Craving Inventory at plus 60 minutes. The Food Craving Inventory is a self-report questionnaire of specific food cravings. The questionnaire consists of 25 items measuring the frequency of cravings for specific foods and consists of 4 factors or subscales measuring cravings for High Fats, Carbohydrates/Starches, Sweets, and Fast Food Fats and also generates a total score. The brief version of the inventory uses 2 items from each of the 4 subscales.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
food snack intake	30 minutes	Food snacks are offered after each imagery condition and weighed for snack consumption.After each imagery period, subjects are presented with 3 bowls of highly palatable (chocolate pudding; potato chips, mini chocolate chip cookies) and 3 bowls of healthy food snacks (baby carrots; grapes), each portioned to \~500 calories (3000 calories per lab session).