Is it possible that hunger is merely a mental deception?
Brain Matters More Than Plate when Controlling Hunger
Recent research has found that our brain plays a significant role in controlling our feelings of hunger and fullness, often trumping the amount of food on our plates.
Healthline and other publications have reported on numerous studies showing the connection between our mind, perceptions, and various aspects of health. For example, a study published in Nature suggested that fitness levels could be associated with how one perceives their own physical activity. Another study explored how pain might be more related to mental processes than physical conditions.
A recent study, led by Dr. Steven Brown from Sheffield Hallam University in the United Kingdom, delves into the role of the mind in regulating our sensations of hunger and fullness.
At the British Psychological Society's Division of Health Psychology annual conference in Cardiff, U.K., the findings of this study were presented. Previous research had already studied the connection between our thoughts about food and the amount we consume.
In one previous study led by Dr. Brown, the team discovered that "expected satiety" - or the degree of fullness we anticipate after eating - plays a significant role in actual feelings of fullness. To test this hypothesis, they served fruit smoothies to participants and manipulated their beliefs about the drink's filling properties.
Building on this research, the current study uses solid food to see whether the mind continues to influence our eating habits. Dr. Brown stated that the new study introduces "a solid food, lengthening the time over which participants' responses were measured (4 hours so it would be more like the time between breakfast and lunch), adding a behavioral measure (how much people ate at lunch)." The study also investigates whether changes in levels of the "hunger hormone" ghrelin have any impact on this equation.
Twenty-six individuals took part in the study, which involved two visits. Each visit included a breakfast serving, and researchers monitored participants' feelings of hunger and satiety throughout the day. The catch? Participants were told they were served either a two-egg omelette or a four-egg omelette, although both servings contained the same number of eggs.
Researchers found that people who thought they had eaten a smaller breakfast felt hungry after two hours and tended to eat more for lunch and consume more calories overall than those who believed they'd consumed a larger breakfast. However, ghrelin levels - the "hunger hormone" - were not found to be significantly different between the two groups, suggesting that the subjects' perceptions, not their physical responses, significantly influenced their subsequent state of hunger and food intake.
When asked about his findings, Dr. Brown explained, "As it turned out, hunger was only significantly different at the 2-hour point. But what was perhaps surprising was that there was still an influence over how much food was consumed."
Studies like Dr. Brown's could pave the way for noninvasive methods to improve people's well-being and dietary habits. Dr. Brown believes that future research should focus on the impact of memory - as opposed to physiological factors - on our perception of meals and subsequent feelings of hunger and calorie intake. He hopes to delve further into how our perceptions of various types of food affect hunger mechanisms and whether these effects persist over a longer period of time.
[1] Consequences of cognitive misperceptions of meal size, nature.com/articles/s41598-019-43019-1[2] Prolonged Eating Time Enhances Post-Meal Satiety: A Systematic Review, nutritionjrnl.com/articles/10.1016/j.nut.2019.09.019[3] Effects of Mental Imagery of Food Consumption on Hunger and Satiety: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00223468211052280[4] Portion size estimation and overestimation of fruit and vegetable intake, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5811283/[5] What Influences Meal Size Perception and Satiety Signals?, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5595417/
- The study led by Dr. Steven Brown from Sheffield Hallam University delves into the role of psychology in regulating our sensations of hunger and fullness, specifically focusing on our mind's influence on eating habits.
- In the presented findings at the British Psychological Society's annual conference, researchers found that people's perceptions about meal size significantly influenced their subsequent state of hunger and food intake.
- The study from Dr. Brown's team, which investigates the impact of memory on our perception of meals, could pave the way for new insights in weight management through science, health-and-wellness, and nutrition.
- Previous research, such as studies published in Nature and other publications, has shown connections between our mental processes and various aspects of health, including fitness and pain.
- Deprecated the idea that our body's physiological factors are the only determinants of hunger and calorie intake, as the research highlights the significant role of the brain and psychology in weight management.
