Meal Enjoyment and Tolerance in Women and Men

Abstract

Various conditioning factors influence the sensory response to a meal (inducible factors). We hypothesized that inherent characteristics of the eater (constitutive factors) also play a role. The aim of this proof-of-concept study was to determine the role of gender, as an individual constitutive factor, on the meal-related experience. Randomized parallel trial in 10 women and 10 men, comparing the sensations before, during, and after stepwise ingestion of a comfort meal up to full satiation. Comparisons were performed by repeated Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) measures. During stepwise ingestion, satisfaction initially increased up to a peak, and later decreased down to a nadir at the point of full satiation. Interestingly, the amount of food consumed at the well-being peak was lower, and induced significantly less fullness in women than in men. Hence, men required a larger meal load and stronger homeostatic sensations to achieve satisfaction. The same pattern was observed at the level of full satiation: men ate more and still experienced positive well-being, whereas in women, well-being scores dropped below pre-meal level. The effect of gender on the ingestion experience suggests that other constitutive factors of the eater may also influence responses to meals.

Keywords: gender differences; hedonic response; homeostatic sensations; meal ingestion; metabolomic response; post-prandial sensations.

Figure 1

Experimental procedure. A comfort meal was administered at a fixed rate (150 Kcal/6 min) up to full satiation, while measuring the sensory expense at regular intervals.

Figure 2

Effect of gender on meal-related sensations. Sensations were scored on 10 cm scales. During meal ingestion, well-being increased up to a peak and then progressively decreased until full satiation. No statistical differences in post-prandial sensations between groups were detected by Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA), but the post-prandial well-being measured as the area under the curve, was significantly larger in men (p = 0.047). Temporal responses to meal ingestion analyzed using one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) for repeated measures; asterisks indicate significant differences from pre-meal values by post-hoc comparisons (p < 0.05 applying the Sidak correction procedure for multiple comparisons).

Figure 3

Meal-wanting and liking during meal ingestion. Data correspond to: (A) the first meal serving, (B) the serving that induced maximal well-being, and (C) the serving that induced full satiation (last serving).

Figure 4

Relation between meal loads that induced maximal well-being and full satiation. Note discrimination between women and men.

Figure 5

Metabolomic response to the meal. Data are changes from basal. Note, a more pronounced response in men than in women (* p < 0.05 men vs. women), possibly related to their larger meal load.