Different and Unequal: A Qualitative Evaluation of Salient Factors Influencing Energy Intake in Adults with Overweight and Obesity

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 11; no. 6; p. 1365
• Main Authors: Dao, Maria Carlota, Messer, Ellen, Conigliaro, Teresa, Sakaida, Kylie, Ouellette, Alexis F, Himaras, Victoria, Thiron, Sophie, Roberts, Susan B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.06.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Aging; Attitudes; Body mass index; Body weight; Cues; Customs; Diabetes; Eating - psychology; eating behavior; Energy; Energy Intake; Energy metabolism; Environment; externality; Feeding Behavior - psychology; Female; Food; Food and Nutrition; Human nutrition; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Hyperphagia - psychology; Interviews; Life Sciences; Male; Middle Aged; Nutrition; Nutrition research; Obesity; Obesity - psychology; Overweight - psychology; Physiology; Population studies; Qualitative Research; Self image; Sociology; Weight control; weight management; weight status; United States > US; weight management; weight status; eating behavior; externality
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu11061365

Environmental factors such as food availability and variety can function as cues for overeating in individuals susceptible to overweight or obesity, but relatively little is known about other types of environmental factors that may also be important. This qualitative study compared and contrasted categories of internal and external cues through focus groups and key informant interviews with 24 adults (26 to 77 years old) in the United States who had a body mass index within the healthy range (21.6 ± 2.5 kg/m ) or had overweight or obesity (29.1 ± 3.6 kg/m ). Five domains of external factors influencing food intake were identified: (a) Environmental cues including food availability and variety; (b) normative expectations for dietary intake; (c) food palatability; (d) overt social pressures to overeat; and (e) perceived social expectations around eating. All external domains were noted by participants with overweight or obesity to be challenging, and solutions to avoid overeating were lacking; however, overt social pressures and perceived social expectations appeared to be especially problematic. By explicitly defining different domains of external factors that challenge healthy weight regulation, this study identifies specific targets to address in interventions for healthy weight management.