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The influence of emotional intensity on facial emotion recognition in females with non-clinical disordered eating
K.M. Appleton, S. Higgs / Appetite 57 (2011) 553–569
Taste- Nutrient relations in commonly consumed foods M. VISKAAL-VAN DONGEN ∗ , M. VAN DEN BERG, N. VINK, F.J. KOK, C. DE GRAAF Wageningen University, Division of Human Nutrition, PO Box 8129, 6700 EV Wageningen, The Netherlands E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Viskaal-Van Dongen). Taste is expected to represent the foods’ nutritious content. However, because many foods within our food supply are highly processed, it is not clear to what extent taste is still in accordance with the nutrient content. The objective was to investigate associations of taste intensities of foods with their nutrient contents. Intensities of the five basic tastes of 50 commonly consumed food items were rated by 19 healthy subjects (aged 21.0 (SD 1.7) years, BMI 21.5 (SD 2.0) kg/m2 ), using the spectrum method. Linear regression was used to test the associations between taste intensities and the nutrient contents. Sweetness was positively associated with mono- and disaccharide (R2 = 0.45, P < 0.01) and inversely associated with protein content (R2 = 0.09, P = 0.04). Saltiness and savouriness were highly correlated, with r = 0.92 (P < 0.01) and both were associated with sodium content (R2 = 0.33, P < 0.01 and R2 = 0.33, P < 0.01, respectively) and protein content (R2 = 0.27, P < 0.01 and R2 = 0.33, P < 0.01, respectively). The associations were more pronounced in raw and moderately processed foods, whereas in highly processed foods, the associations were less pronounced. The data suggest that taste signals the nutrient content of foods, particularly for simple sugars, protein and sodium chloride. In highly processed foods, however, the ability to sense nutrient content based on taste may be limited, compared to raw or moderately processed foods. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.05.097 The influence of emotional intensity on facial emotion recognition in females with non-clinical disordered eating D.J. WALLIS 1,∗ , N. RIDOUT 2 , Y. AUTWAL 2 , J. SELLIS 1 1 Loughborough University Centre for Research into Eating Disorders, School of Sport, Exercise & Health Sciences, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK 2 School of Life & Health Sciences, Aston University, UK E-mail address: [email protected] (D.J. Wallis). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of emotional intensity on facial emotion recognition in participants with subclinical levels of disordered eating. Eighty females were assigned to one of two groups based on their scores on the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI-2: drive for thinness, bulimia and body dissatisfaction subscales). This produced 40 high scorers (scoring 18+) and 40 low scorers (17 or less). Participants were presented with a series of faces, each featuring one of five emotional expressions (happiness, sadness, fear, anger and disgust) at one of four emotional intensities (50%, 75%, 100% and 125%), and were asked to identify the emotion portrayed. They also completed self-report measures of mood (Hospital Anxiety & Depression Scale; HADS) and the personality trait, alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale; TAS-20). Results revealed that the high EDI group exhibited impaired facial emotion recognition, with particular deficits in fear and anger. Fear recognition was related to scores on the depression subscale of the HADS, whereas anger recognition was related to scores on the “drive for thinness” subscale of the EDI. The facial emotion recognition deficit exhibited by the high EDI group was particularly evident for expressions at lower emotional intensities. These findings provide evidence that those with high levels of disordered eating have poor sensitivity to subtle expressions of emotion and have particular difficulties with the recognition of anger. This holds implications for the role of emotion recognition in our understanding of disordered eating behaviours. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.05.098
567
The effect on memory of an acute blueberry flavonoid intervention with 8–9 year old children A.R. WHYTE ∗ , C.M. WILLIAMS School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AL, UK E-mail address: [email protected] (A.R. Whyte). Acute flavonoid related interventions with adult participants have shown significant improvement in attention, response inhibition and memory. There has been no published research examining whether the cognitive effects of flavonoids extend to children. However, if proven, it could be argued that these beneficial effects would aid learning within this age group. In a cross-over study, fourteen, 8–9 year old children (11 male) consumed either a high blueberry flavonoid drink or matched placebo. Two hours after intervention participants performed a cognitive task battery including the Reys Auditory Verbal Learning Task (RAVLT), GoNoGo and Stroop. In contrast to the adult literature, no significant effects were found in the Stroop and Go-NoGo. However, analysis of RAVLT revealed that following flavonoid supplementation, there was a significant improvement in delayed recall of an initial word list which was evident after both a short (2 min) and long (25 min) delay. Additionally, flavonoid intervention led to an increase in proactive interference resulting in poorer immediate recall of a second word list. We hypothesise that the flavonoid intervention facilitated greater strength of encoding for the initial word list which aided its subsequent delayed recall but also interfered with recall of the second list. This research therefore shows, for the first time, specific memory effects following acute flavonoid intervention with a child sample. A controlled dose response and time course analysis using a battery of cognitive tasks is now required to see if the effects reported here extend to other cognitive domains in children. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.05.099
Taste- Nutrient relations in commonly consumed foods M. VISKAAL-VAN DONGEN ∗ , M. VAN DEN BERG, N. VINK, F.J. KOK, C. DE GRAAF Wageningen University, Division of Human Nutrition, PO Box 8129, 6700 EV Wageningen, The Netherlands E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Viskaal-Van Dongen). Taste is expected to represent the foods’ nutritious content. However, because many foods within our food supply are highly processed, it is not clear to what extent taste is still in accordance with the nutrient content. The objective was to investigate associations of taste intensities of foods with their nutrient contents. Intensities of the five basic tastes of 50 commonly consumed food items were rated by 19 healthy subjects (aged 21.0 (SD 1.7) years, BMI 21.5 (SD 2.0) kg/m2 ), using the spectrum method. Linear regression was used to test the associations between taste intensities and the nutrient contents. Sweetness was positively associated with mono- and disaccharide (R2 = 0.45, P < 0.01) and inversely associated with protein content (R2 = 0.09, P = 0.04). Saltiness and savouriness were highly correlated, with r = 0.92 (P < 0.01) and both were associated with sodium content (R2 = 0.33, P < 0.01 and R2 = 0.33, P < 0.01, respectively) and protein content (R2 = 0.27, P < 0.01 and R2 = 0.33, P < 0.01, respectively). The associations were more pronounced in raw and moderately processed foods, whereas in highly processed foods, the associations were less pronounced. The data suggest that taste signals the nutrient content of foods, particularly for simple sugars, protein and sodium chloride. In highly processed foods, however, the ability to sense nutrient content based on taste may be limited, compared to raw or moderately processed foods. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.05.097 The influence of emotional intensity on facial emotion recognition in females with non-clinical disordered eating D.J. WALLIS 1,∗ , N. RIDOUT 2 , Y. AUTWAL 2 , J. SELLIS 1 1 Loughborough University Centre for Research into Eating Disorders, School of Sport, Exercise & Health Sciences, Loughborough LE11 3TU, UK 2 School of Life & Health Sciences, Aston University, UK E-mail address: [email protected] (D.J. Wallis). The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of emotional intensity on facial emotion recognition in participants with subclinical levels of disordered eating. Eighty females were assigned to one of two groups based on their scores on the Eating Disorders Inventory (EDI-2: drive for thinness, bulimia and body dissatisfaction subscales). This produced 40 high scorers (scoring 18+) and 40 low scorers (17 or less). Participants were presented with a series of faces, each featuring one of five emotional expressions (happiness, sadness, fear, anger and disgust) at one of four emotional intensities (50%, 75%, 100% and 125%), and were asked to identify the emotion portrayed. They also completed self-report measures of mood (Hospital Anxiety & Depression Scale; HADS) and the personality trait, alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale; TAS-20). Results revealed that the high EDI group exhibited impaired facial emotion recognition, with particular deficits in fear and anger. Fear recognition was related to scores on the depression subscale of the HADS, whereas anger recognition was related to scores on the “drive for thinness” subscale of the EDI. The facial emotion recognition deficit exhibited by the high EDI group was particularly evident for expressions at lower emotional intensities. These findings provide evidence that those with high levels of disordered eating have poor sensitivity to subtle expressions of emotion and have particular difficulties with the recognition of anger. This holds implications for the role of emotion recognition in our understanding of disordered eating behaviours. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.05.098
567
The effect on memory of an acute blueberry flavonoid intervention with 8–9 year old children A.R. WHYTE ∗ , C.M. WILLIAMS School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, University of Reading, Reading RG6 6AL, UK E-mail address: [email protected] (A.R. Whyte). Acute flavonoid related interventions with adult participants have shown significant improvement in attention, response inhibition and memory. There has been no published research examining whether the cognitive effects of flavonoids extend to children. However, if proven, it could be argued that these beneficial effects would aid learning within this age group. In a cross-over study, fourteen, 8–9 year old children (11 male) consumed either a high blueberry flavonoid drink or matched placebo. Two hours after intervention participants performed a cognitive task battery including the Reys Auditory Verbal Learning Task (RAVLT), GoNoGo and Stroop. In contrast to the adult literature, no significant effects were found in the Stroop and Go-NoGo. However, analysis of RAVLT revealed that following flavonoid supplementation, there was a significant improvement in delayed recall of an initial word list which was evident after both a short (2 min) and long (25 min) delay. Additionally, flavonoid intervention led to an increase in proactive interference resulting in poorer immediate recall of a second word list. We hypothesise that the flavonoid intervention facilitated greater strength of encoding for the initial word list which aided its subsequent delayed recall but also interfered with recall of the second list. This research therefore shows, for the first time, specific memory effects following acute flavonoid intervention with a child sample. A controlled dose response and time course analysis using a battery of cognitive tasks is now required to see if the effects reported here extend to other cognitive domains in children. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2011.05.099