Clinical Psychological Science, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Appetite. 2012 Oct;59(2):550-5. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2012.07.004. Epub 2012 Jul 14.
As the prevalence of obesity is increasing, many people resort to dieting to achieve a healthy body weight. Such dietary restraint has been suggested to cause counterproductive effects leading to disinhibited eating. However, it is more likely that dietary restraint is a by-product of previous difficulties in weight control and disinhibited eating. If so, disinhibition should be related more strongly to unsuccessful weight control than dietary restraint. This possibility was examined in the present study. Participants were exposed to palatable food or to neutral objects. Before and after exposure, we measured craving, general inhibitory control and inhibition of food-related responses with the Stop-Signal Task (SST), and food consumption during a taste test. Results showed that exposure increased craving in both successful and unsuccessful weight regulators. People who were successful at controlling their weight, however, were better able to regulate this temptation compared to unsuccessful weight regulators: while exposure to palatable food reduced inhibitory control over food-related responses and increased food consumption in unsuccessful weight regulators, successful weight regulators did not show such disinhibition. Dietary restraint did not influence any of these findings. Further, the exposure-induced difference in inhibition between successful and unsuccessful weight regulators was specific for food-related responses, as regulatory success did not influence general inhibitory control. Thus, while successful and unsuccessful weight regulators seem equally tempted by palatable food, those who are successful in controlling their weight seem better able to resist these temptations by exerting inhibitory control over appetitive responses toward palatable food.
随着肥胖症的患病率不断上升，许多人求助于节食来达到健康的体重。这种饮食限制被认为会产生适得其反的效果，导致无法抑制的进食。然而，更有可能的是，饮食限制是之前控制体重困难和无法抑制进食的结果。如果是这样，那么无法抑制进食应该与不成功的体重控制比饮食限制更相关。本研究对此进行了检验。参与者被暴露在美味的食物或中性物体面前。在暴露前后，我们使用停止信号任务（SST）测量了渴望、一般抑制控制和对与食物相关的反应的抑制，以及味觉测试中的食物消耗。结果表明，暴露在美味食物面前会增加成功和不成功的体重调节者的渴望。然而，与不成功的体重调节者相比，那些成功控制体重的人能够更好地调节这种诱惑：当暴露在美味食物面前时，不成功的体重调节者的食物相关反应的抑制控制会降低，食物消耗会增加，而成功的体重调节者则不会出现这种无法抑制的情况。饮食限制并没有影响到这些发现。此外，成功和不成功的体重调节者之间的抑制差异是特定于与食物相关的反应的，因为调节成功并没有影响一般抑制控制。因此，虽然成功和不成功的体重调节者似乎都同样受到美味食物的诱惑，但那些成功控制体重的人似乎能够通过对美味食物的食欲反应施加抑制控制来更好地抵抗这些诱惑。
