Emotions and Food Consumption: Emotional Eating Behavior in a European Population

Marija Ljubičić; Marijana Matek Sarić; Ivo Klarin; Ivana Rumbak; Irena Colić Barić; Jasmina Ranilović; Boris Dželalija; Ana Sarić; Dario Nakić; Ilija Djekic; Małgorzata Korzeniowska; Elena Bartkiene; Maria Papageorgiou; Monica Tarcea; Maša Černelič-Bizjak; Dace Klava; Viktória Szűcs; Elena Vittadini; Dieuwerke Bolhuis; Raquel P F Guiné

doi:10.3390/foods12040872

Emotions and Food Consumption: Emotional Eating Behavior in a European Population

Foods. 2023 Feb 17;12(4):872. doi: 10.3390/foods12040872.

Authors

Marija Ljubičić¹, Marijana Matek Sarić¹, Ivo Klarin^{1

2}, Ivana Rumbak³, Irena Colić Barić³, Jasmina Ranilović⁴, Boris Dželalija¹, Ana Sarić⁵, Dario Nakić^{1

2}, Ilija Djekic⁶, Małgorzata Korzeniowska⁷, Elena Bartkiene⁸, Maria Papageorgiou⁹, Monica Tarcea¹⁰, Maša Černelič-Bizjak¹¹, Dace Klava¹², Viktória Szűcs¹³, Elena Vittadini¹⁴, Dieuwerke Bolhuis¹⁵, Raquel P F Guiné¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Studies, University of Zadar, 23000 Zadar, Croatia.
² General Hospital Zadar, 23000 Zadar, Croatia.
³ Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
⁴ Podravka Ltd., Research & Development, 48000 Koprivnica, Croatia.
⁵ School of Medicine, Catholic University of Croatia, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia.
⁶ Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia.
⁷ Department of Functional Food Products Development, Wroclaw University of Environmental and Life Sciences, 51-630 Wrocław, Poland.
⁸ Department of Food Safety and Quality, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, 44307 Kaunas, Lithuania.
⁹ Department of Food Science and Technology, International Hellenic University, 57400 Thessaloniki, Greece.
¹⁰ Department of Community Nutrition and Food Safety, George Emil Palade University of Targu Mures, 540141 Targu Mures, Romania.
¹¹ Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Primorska, 6310 Izola, Slovenia.
¹² Department of Food Technology, Faculty of Food Technology, Latvia University of Agriculture, LV 3001 Jelgava, Latvia.
¹³ Hungarian Chamber of Agriculture, Directorate of Food Industry, H-119 Budapest, Hungary.
¹⁴ School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino, Italy.
¹⁵ Food Quality and Design Group, Wageningen University & Research, Bornse Weilanden 9, 6708 WG Wageninge, The Netherlands.
¹⁶ Centro de Estudos de Recursos Naturais, Ambiente e Sociedade, Research Centre, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, 3504-510 Viseu, Portugal.

Abstract

Emotion can reflect in the perception of food consumption. An increase in food intake during emotional and psychological conditions may have a negative impact on human health. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to determine the associations between food consumption, emotional eating behavior, and emotional conditions such as stress, depression, loneliness, boredom eating, maintaining vigilance and alertness, and emotional food consolation. We used a Motivations for Food Choices Questionnaire (Eating Motivations, EATMOT) to determine the emotional aspects of food consumption in 9052 respondents living in 12 European countries between October 2017 and March 2018. Ordinal linear regression was used to identify the associations between the emotional eating behavior and emotional conditions such as stress, depression, loneliness, emotional consolation, and reasons to improve physical and psychological conditions. The regression models confirmed the associations between food consumption, emotional conditions, and emotional eating behavior. Associations were found between the emotional eating behavior and stress (odds ratio (OR) = 1.30, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.07-1.60, p = 0.010), depressive mood (OR = 1.41, 95% CI = 1.40-1.43, p < 0.001), loneliness (OR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.58-1.62, p < 0.001), boredom (OR = 1.37, 95% CI = 1.36-1.39, p < 0.001), and emotional consolation (OR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.54-1.57, p < 0.001). Emotional eating was associated with an effort to improve physical and psychological conditions, such as controlling body weight (OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.10-1.12, p < 0.001), keeping awake and alert (OR = 1.19, 95% CI = 1.19-1.20, p < 0.001) and consumption to feel good (OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.21-1.22, p < 0.001). In conclusion, emotions might provoke emotional eating behavior. The appropriate way to handle stress, depression, or other emotional states is important in conditions of being emotionally overwhelmed. The public should be educated on how to handle different emotional states. The focus should be moved somehow from emotional eating and the consumption of unhealthy food to healthy lifestyle practices, including regular exercise and healthy eating habits. Thus, it is necessary to halt these negative health effects on human health through public health programs.

Keywords: emotional eating behavior; emotional motivation; lifestyle; motivation for health behavior; negative emotions; stress-related eating.

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the CI and DETS Research Center (Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Portugal), grant number PROJ/CI and DETS/CGD/0012. The APC was funded by the FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology (Portugal), grant number UIDB/00681/2020.