Female sweet-likers have enhanced cross-modal interoceptive abilities. (1st October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Iatridi, Vasiliki; Quadt, Lisa; Hayes, John E.; Garfinkel, Sarah N.; Yeomans, Martin R.
• Is Part Of: Appetite. Volume 165(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-10-01
• Subjects: Sweet-liking -- Homeostatic eating -- Interoception -- Hunger cues -- Emotional eating -- Mindfulness; BMI Body Mass Index -- BPQ Body Perception Questionnaire -- DEBQ Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire -- EMAQ Emotional Appetite Questionnaire -- gLMS generalized Labelled Magnitude Scale -- IAcHDi Interoception Accuracy from the Heartbeat Discrimination task -- IAcHTr Interoception Accuracy from the Heartbeat Tracking task -- IAw Interoceptive Awareness -- IAwHDi Interoceptive Awareness from the Heartbeat Discrimination task -- IAwHTr Interoceptive Awareness from the Heartbeat Tracking task -- I S_HDi Interoceptive Sensibility from the Heartbeat Discrimination task -- IES Intuitive Eating Scale -- IS_HTr Interoceptive Sensibility from the Heartbeat Tracking task -- ITPE Trait Prediction Error -- MEQ Mindful Eating Questionnaire -- ROC Receiver Operating Characteristic -- SD Sweet Disliker -- SL Sweet Liker -- VAS Visual Analogue Scale -- WLT Water Load Test; Food habits -- Periodicals; Appetite -- Periodicals; Appetite disorders -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 306.4613
• DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105290
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0195-6663

Abstract

Abstract: There are well known phenotypic differences in sweet-liking across individuals, but it remains unknown whether these are related to broader underlying differences in interoceptive abilities (abilities to sense the internal state of the body). Here, healthy women ( N = 64) classified as sweet likers (SLs) or sweet dislikers (SDs) completed a bimodal interoception protocol. A heartbeat tracking and a heartbeat discrimination task determined cardiac interoception; both were accompanied by confidence ratings. A water load task, where participants consumed water to satiation and then to maximum fullness was used to assess gastric interoceptive abilities. Motivational state, psychometric characteristics and eating behaviour were also assessed. SLs performed significantly better than SDs on both heartbeat tasks, independently of impulsivity, anxiety, depression, and alexithymia. No differences in metacognitive awareness and subjective interoceptive measures were found. With gastric interoception, SLs were more sensitive to stomach distention, and they ingested less water than SDs to reach satiety when accounting for stomach capacity. SLs also scored higher on mindful and intuitive eating scales and on emotional eating particularly in response to negative stimuli; emotional overeating was fully mediated via interoceptive performance. Overall, our data suggest the SL phenotype may reflect enhanced responsiveness to internal cues more broadly.