Emotional food craving: Highest during positive emotions, and calorie-specific during negative emotions

Theories on emotional eating are central to understanding the etiology, maintenance, and treatment of eating and weight disorders. However, it remains unclear whether emotional eating is a universal phenomenon or specific to a subgroup with distinct eating styles. Few studies have examined positive and negative emotions within the same design. This study aimed to investigate the effects of induced positive and negative emotions on food picture-specific craving ratings while accounting for trait emotional eating in a well-powered experimental design.

A total of 147 participants (111 women, 33 men, 3 gender-diverse) viewed and rated pictures of foods with high- and low-calorie content during positive, neutral, and negative emotional states, induced through recall of emotional episodes.

Baseline and block-end ratings confirmed successful emotion induction. Across all food images, food cravings were highest during the positive condition, followed by the neutral condition, and lowest during the negative condition. High-calorie foods were craved more than low-calorie foods only during negative emotional states. This calorie-specific effect was primarily observed in individuals with high trait negative emotional overeating and high positive emotional undereating.

The findings demonstrate a general effect of emotional states on food cravings and highlight a subgroup of vulnerable individuals with elevated trait levels of negative overeating and positive undereating. While normative theories of appetite should account for the influence of emotions in general, targeted prevention strategies may be particularly beneficial for individuals with heightened trait emotional eating tendencies. Replication in clinical samples is needed to further inform interventions.