Emotional eating and obesity in adults: the role of depression, sleep and genes
2020/03/26 by Hanna Konttinen · 269 citations
Medicine · Psychology · #Anxiety #Appetite #Behavioral Health and Interventions #Body weight #Clinical psychology #Depression (economics) #Developmental psychology #Disordered eating #Eating Disorders and Behaviors #Eating behavior #Eating disorders #Emotional eating #Endocrinology #Medicine #Obesity #Obesity, Physical Activity, Diet #Psychiatry #Psychological intervention #Psychology #Sleep (system call) #Weight gain
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0029665120000166
published in Proceedings of The Nutrition Society 79(3), 283-289 (Cambridge University Press)
openalex publication_date 2020/03/26 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Abstract
Stress and other negative emotions, such as depression and anxiety, can lead to both decreased and increased food intake. The term 'emotional eating' has been widely used to refer to the latter response: a tendency to eat in response to negative emotions with the chosen foods being primarily energy-dense and palatable ones. Emotional eating can be caused by various mechanisms, such as using eating to cope with negative emotions or confusing internal states of hunger and satiety with physiological changes related to emotions. An increasing number of prospective studies have shown that emotional eating predicts subsequent weight gain in adults. This review discusses particularly three lines of research on emotional eating and obesity in adults. First, studies implying that emotional eating may be one behavioural mechanism linking depression and development of obesity. Secondly, studies highlighting the relevance of night sleep duration by showing that adults with a combination of shorter sleep and higher emotional eating may be especially vulnerable to weight gain. Thirdly, an emerging literature suggesting that genes may influence body weight partly through emotional eating and other eating behaviour dimensions. The review concludes by discussing what kind of implications these three avenues of research offer for obesity prevention and treatment interventions.
Citations
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