Objective

Ibudilast (IBUD) is a neuroimmune modulator that inhibits phosphodiesterase-4 and -10 and macrophage migration inhibitory factor. A randomized, placebo-control, crossover human laboratory trial advanced IBUD development for alcohol use disorder and found that IBUD reduced tonic levels of alcohol craving. Given the importance of considering medication effects on other appetitive behavior, the present study tested the effect of IBUD (50 mg bid) on food craving.

Method

The present study was a secondary data analysis of the trial of IBUD in non-treatment seekers with alcohol use disorder (N = 19). High-fat/high-sugar food craving was measured daily. Moreover, because substantial literatures show that small alcohol doses and psychological stress increase eating of high-fat/high-sugar food, craving for high-fat/high-sugar food was measured after alcohol infusion and stress reactivity.

Results

Results indicated that IBUD did not alter tonic high-fat/high-sugar food craving. Alcohol infusion did not generally increase high-fat/high-sugar food craving but psychological stress did. Likewise, IBUD did not affect high-fat/high-sugar food craving after alcohol infusion but IBUD did increase high-fat/high-sugar food craving after psychological stress. Follow-up analyses revealed that, among individuals with lower depressive symptomatology, IBUD compared to placebo heightened the effect of psychological stress on high-fat/high-sugar food craving.

Conclusions

These results advance the development of IBUD for addiction indications by demonstrating that IBUD compared to placebo does not suppress other appetitive responses, namely craving for high-fat/high-sugar food among individuals with alcohol use disorder.

Reducing intake of highly processed, energy-dense food may prevent chronic disease. One proposed intervention strategy for reducing intake of these foods is to increase non-food reward experiences (e.g., music, socializing, art) in their place. However, research supporting this strategy has yet to establish temporal order between non-food reward experiences and highly processed food intake, and has yet to test mediators. The current study sought to build upon this literature with an ambulatory electronic diary study wherein the time-specific associations between non-food reward experiences and highly processed food intake were observed. A sample of 84 young adults reported on multiple types of non-food reward experiences and highly processed food intake hourly for two weekdays and two weekend days through an application on their personal electronic devices. Time-lagged analysis was employed to predict the odds of highly processed food intake in the following hour from non-food rewards experienced in the current hour. Secondary (e.g., receiving positive social feedback) and hedonic (e.g., viewing pleasant images) non-food reward experiences in the current hour predicted greater instead of lower odds of highly processed food intake in the following hour. These associations were mediated by increased subjective pleasure. Purely eudaimonic (e.g., affirming values), social (e.g., cooperating with others), and primary (e.g., having sex) reward experiences generally did not predict odds of highly processed food intake in the following hour. These results suggest that-at least for young adults-many non-food reward experiences may fail to reduce highly processed food intake, and some may even backfire. A different intervention strategy targeting reward processes implicated in highly processed food intake (e.g., interfering with conditioned learned associations) may prove a more promising avenue for improving physical health.

Seminal health behaviour theories and behaviour modification techniques are applied to health behaviours individually. Limited empirical work investigates how change in one health behaviour may change another. This study proposes a food-alcohol competition hypothesis, where individuals tend to consume one rewarding substance to the other's exclusion. In a large sample of adolescent girls assessed yearly from age 15 to 19, Latent Growth Modelling indicated that a tendency to consume processed or sweet high-fat foods 'competed' with a tendency to drink alcohol. In order to best improve overall health, it is important to consider interrelationships between food and alcohol consumption.

Purpose

Comfort eating is a prevalent behavior. Prior research shows that comfort eating is associated with reduced stress responses and increased metabolic risk across adolescence, young adulthood, and middle adulthood. The purpose of the current research was to test if comfort eating prospectively predicted all-cause mortality in older adulthood.

Method

The US Health and Retirement Study is an ongoing, nationally representative, longitudinal study of older adults. The final sample for the present study (N = 1445) included participants randomly selected to report how often they comfort ate. Comfort eating data were collected in 2008 and all-cause mortality data were collected in 2014. Participants also reported how often they consumed high-fat/sugar food as well as their height and weight in 2008.

Results

For each 1-unit increase in comfort eating, the expected odds of all-cause mortality (n = 255 deceased) decreased by 14%, OR = 0.86, p = 0.048, 95% CI [0.74, 0.99]. This analysis statistically accounted for other predictors of mortality in the sample including age, biological sex, race, highest educational degree attained, moderate and vigorous exercise, smoking, and cumulative illness. High-fat/sugar intake did not mediate (or diminish) the association but body mass index did.

Conclusion

Comfort eating-irrespective of consuming high-fat/sugar food-may be associated with reduced mortality in older adults because it may promote greater body mass, and greater body mass is associated with lower risk of mortality in nationally representative samples. Interventionists might consider both beneficial and detrimental aspects of comfort eating across the lifespan.

Background

Alcohol craving, or the desire to drink alcohol, has been identified as a key experience preceding alcohol use. Alcoholics Anonymous has long claimed that individuals can allay alcohol cravings by eating sweets. Empirical tests of this strategy are limited to a few preclinical studies in rats, and there is no existing experiment testing the acute effect of eating sweets on alcohol cravings in humans.

Purpose

The current study sought to experimentally test the acute effect of eating sweets on alcohol cravings in a sample with at-risk drinking.

Methods

After being exposed to an alcohol cue, individuals with at-risk drinking (N = 150) were randomly assigned to eat sweets (n = 60), eat calorie-equivalent bland food (n = 60), or watch a video (n = 30). Caloric amounts were manipulated. Individuals with at-risk drinking were then exposed to a second alcohol cue. Changes in alcohol cravings from after the first to after the second alcohol cue were measured via visual analog scale and heart rate.

Results

There were no significant between-group differences in changes in alcohol cravings. Caloric amounts did not modify effects.

Conclusions

Experimental findings did not provide evidence to support the clinical lore that eating sweets can reduce alcohol cravings, albeit only acutely and for those with at-risk drinking. Other empirically supported strategies for managing alcohol cravings (e.g., pharmacotherapies, mindfulness) could instead be promoted.

Many people eat unhealthy foods that are high in calories, fat, or sugar when feeling stressed, yet little is known about whether this unhealthy comfort eating actually comforts. Additionally, prior research has not tested whether healthy comfort eating of fruits and vegetables might also alleviate stress, or whether comfort eating during the stress anticipation phase versus immediately after a stressful event is more beneficial for stress relief. The present experiment tested whether unhealthy and healthy comfort eating reduce acute psychophysiological responses to a socially evaluative stressor. Participants (N = 150 healthy women) underwent the Trier Social Stress Test in the lab and were randomly assigned to one of five conditions according to a 2 (food type: unhealthy vs. healthy) x 2 (eating timing: during stress anticipation vs. after the stressor) + 1 (no food control) between-subjects design. Stress outcomes included mood, cognitive appraisals, rumination, salivary cortisol, heart rate variability, and pre-ejection period. Unhealthy and healthy comfort eating did not dampen reactivity or enhance recovery of psychophysiological stress compared to control, and no differences in reactivity or recovery were found by comfort food type. Findings suggest that by replacing unhealthy comfort foods with fruits and vegetables, women will not be sacrificing any stress-reducing benefits and can inherently improve the quality of their diet while avoiding potential drawbacks of unhealthy comfort eating (e.g., links with abdominal obesity).

The scientific literature on links among alcohol use, total energy intake, cardiometabolic disease and obesity is conflicting. To clarify the link between alcohol use and cardiometabolic health, this systematic review (PROSPERO CRD42016039308A) uses PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines to synthesize how alcohol use affects dietary intake (carbohydrate, fat and protein intake) in humans. A search of Google Scholar, PsycINFO and PubMed from June 2016-March 2019 yielded 30 qualified studies. Experimental and observational studies allowed for inferences about effects of a single drinking occasion and of frequent drinking, respectively. Alcohol quantities were standardized according to the 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. On average, methodological quality of the studies was medium strength. Results indicated that a single occasion of light and moderate drinking as well as frequent light and moderate drinking were linked to greater fat and protein intake, albeit the majority of studies did not detect differences in dietary intake due to these drinking behaviours. Frequent heavy drinking, on the other hand, was linked to less carbohydrate intake in the majority of studies. Overall, alcohol use does not appear to uniformly affect diet but instead appears to affect intake of specific macronutrients in a dose-dependent manner, most consistently decreasing carbohydrate intake with heavier use.