News
Do cheat days predict compulsive eating?
5 November 2019
Science Pearls
Talk by Robyn M Brown at the ANZOS-ASLM-ICCR 2019 Conference Joint National and International Conference on Obesity and Related Chronic Diseases, Sydney, Australia.
Talk title : « Compulsive-like eating is induced by intermittent access to high-fat high-sugar diet »
To deal with frustration that often comes with restrictive diets, there’s the introduction of the “cheat day”: the temporary permission to break the strict diet rules. This pattern strongly resembles the use-abstinence cycles seen in drug abuse and could increase the risk of compulsive-like eating behaviours as well as obesity. In this study, compulsivity was assessed in rats fed with a high-fat high-sugar diet ad libitum (group 1) or intermittently (group 2). Results show that when tested in the presence of food, only group 2 was insensitive to alerting cues predicting adversity. The group suggested that the intermittent availability of high fat-high sugar food is sufficient to promote compulsive-like eating behaviours.
Visit this web page to learn more about Dr. Robyn M. Brown’s research theme: Click HERE.
