Mindfulness and laboratory eating behavior in adolescent girls at risk for type 2 diabetes

Abstract

Mindfulness-based intervention has become increasingly popular to address disinhibited eating in obesity and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Theoretically, present-moment attention promotes the ability to recognize and respond to internal hunger cues and to differentiate physiological hunger from other stimuli. Yet, there is limited research describing the relationship of mindfulness with disinhibited eating patterns in adolescents. In this study, we evaluated the relationship of dispositional mindfulness to laboratory eating in 107 adolescent (12-17 years) girls at risk for T2D. Adolescents reported dispositional mindfulness, were evaluated for recent loss-of-control-eating (LOC-eating) by interview, and participated in two successive, standardized laboratory test meals to assess eating when hungry as well as eating in the absence of hunger (EAH). Adolescents rated state appetite throughout the test meal paradigms. In analyses adjusting for body composition and other possible confounds, mindfulness was inversely related to caloric intake during the EAH paradigm. Mindfulness did not relate to energy intake when hungry. Instead, there was a significant interaction of reported LOC-eating by state hunger, such that girls with recent, reported LOC-eating and high state hunger consumed more calories when hungry, regardless of mindfulness. Findings suggest that in girls at risk for T2D, mindfulness may play a role in disinhibited eating. A propensity for LOC-eating may be most salient for overeating in a high hunger state.

Keywords: Adolescent; Disinhibited eating; Eating in the absence of hunger; Loss-of-control; Mindfulness; Type 2 diabetes.

Figure 1

Reported loss-of-control-eating (LOC-eating) status moderated the relationship between pre-meal state hunger and meal energy intake (kcal; β = .30, p = .02), accounting for age, race/ethnicity, body composition (percent body fat, lean mass, and height), and depressive symptoms; only among adolescent girls with reported LOC-eating, state hunger was positively related to meal intake (β = .39, p = .02), but not among girls without LOC (p = .73).

Figure 2

Dispositional mindfulness was inversely associated with eating in the absence of hunger (EAH; kcal; β = −.24, p = .03), after accounting for age, race/ethnicity, body composition (percent body fat, lean mass, and height), depressive symptoms, and buffet meal energy intake.