Background: Eating disorders and obesity are serious health problems with poor treatment outcomes and high relapse rates despite well-established treatments. Several studies have suggested that virtual reality technology could enhance the current treatment outcomes and could be used as an adjunctive tool in their treatment.
Objective: This study aims to investigate the differences between eating virtual and real-life meals and test the hypothesis that eating a virtual meal can reduce hunger among healthy women.
Methods: The study included 20 healthy women and used a randomized crossover design. The participants were asked to eat 1 introduction meal, 2 real meals, and 2 virtual meals, all containing real or virtual meatballs and potatoes. The real meals were eaten on a plate that had been placed on a scale that communicated with analytical software on a computer. The virtual meals were eaten in a room where participants were seated on a real chair in front of a real table and fitted with the virtual reality equipment. The eating behavior for both the real and virtual meals was filmed. Hunger was measured before and after the meals using questionnaires.
Results: There was a significant difference in hunger from baseline to after the real meal (mean difference=61.8, P<.001) but no significant change in hunger from before to after the virtual meal (mean difference=6.9, P=.10). There was no significant difference in food intake between the virtual and real meals (mean difference=36.8, P=.07). Meal duration was significantly shorter in the virtual meal (mean difference=-5.4, P<.001), which led to a higher eating rate (mean difference=82.9, P<.001). Some participants took bites and chewed during the virtual meal, but the number of bites and chews was lower than in the real meal. The meal duration was reduced from the first virtual meal to the second virtual meal, but no significant difference was observed between the 2 real meals.
Conclusions: Eating a virtual meal does not appear to significantly reduce hunger in healthy individuals. Also, this methodology does not significantly result in eating behaviors identical to real-life conditions but does evoke chewing and bite behavior in certain individuals.
Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05734209, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05734209.
Keywords: VR; anorexia nervosa; binge eating disorder; bulimia nervosa; eating behavior; exposure therapy; immersive virtual reality; obesity; overweight; virtual reality.
©Alkyoni Glympi, Dorothy Odegi, Modjtaba Zandian, Per Södersten, Cecilia Bergh, Billy Langlet. Originally published in JMIR Serious Games (https://games.jmir.org), 10.08.2023.