Aiello Marilena, Ottoboni Giovanni, Chattat Rabih, Russo Cristina, Deponte Antonella, Palmeri Rosanna, Tessari Alessia
Department of Psychology, Alma Mater Studiorum-Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
Associazione Goffredo de Banfield, Trieste, Italy.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2025 Jun 10;80(7). doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbaf087.
Living in a complex food environment, humans face numerous decisions and choices every day. These decisions necessitate cognitive resources and the ability to balance metabolic needs with gratification. This study sought to examine whether aging enhances responses to food stimuli due to reduced inhibitory control or reduces such responses due to a decline in the motivational system.
50 young adults, aged 20-30 years, and 55 older adults, aged 65-91 years, without obesity, were recruited. Participants were asked to rate explicitly liking, wanting, and healthiness of both high- and low-calorie foods on a Likert scale. Additionally, they completed an affective priming task measuring affective reactions toward foods and a food go/no-go task to assess inhibitory control.
Older adults exhibit reduced food liking and wanting compared to young adults, but did not show increased impulsivity or implicit preference for high- and/or low-calorie foods. No significant relationship between perceived healthiness and reward responsiveness was observed in the older adult group.
Our findings suggest that healthy aging is characterized by a diminished response to food due to low reward responsiveness. This is noteworthy, as the hedonic properties of foods are commonly believed to guide dietary choices. Understanding the relationship between age and food-related behavior is crucial for developing targeted dietary interventions for older adults, which could enhance their overall health and quality of life.
生活在复杂的食物环境中，人类每天面临众多决策和选择。这些决策需要认知资源以及平衡代谢需求与满足感的能力。本研究旨在探讨衰老是否因抑制控制能力下降而增强对食物刺激的反应，或者是否因动机系统衰退而减弱此类反应。
招募了50名20至30岁的年轻成年人以及55名65至91岁无肥胖问题的老年人。参与者被要求用李克特量表明确对高热量和低热量食物的喜爱程度、渴望程度以及健康程度进行评分。此外，他们完成了一项测量对食物情感反应的情感启动任务以及一项评估抑制控制能力的食物“去/不去”任务。
与年轻成年人相比，老年人对食物的喜爱和渴望程度降低，但在高热量和/或低热量食物方面并未表现出更高的冲动性或隐性偏好。在老年人群体中，未观察到感知健康程度与奖励反应性之间存在显著关系。
我们的研究结果表明，健康衰老的特征是由于奖励反应性低而对食物的反应减弱。这一点值得注意，因为人们通常认为食物的享乐属性会指导饮食选择。了解年龄与食物相关行为之间的关系对于制定针对老年人的有针对性的饮食干预措施至关重要，这可能会提高他们的整体健康和生活质量。
