Uncontrolled Eating in Healthy Women Has Limited Influence on Food Reward Sensitivity and Food-Related Inhibitory Control

Uncontrolled eating—in the general population—is characterized by overeating, hedonic hunger and being drawn towards palatable foods. Theoretically, it is the result of a strong food reward signal in relation to a poor ability to exert inhibitory control. How food consumption influences inhibitory control and food reward sensitivity, and how this relates to the continued urge to eat, remains unclear though. We used fMRI (N=40) in order to investigate the neural mechanism underlying food reward sensitivity and food-specific response inhibition (go-nogo task), by comparing women reporting high versus low/average uncontrolled eating across two sessions: during an inter-meal hunger state and after consumption of a high-caloric snack. We found no effects of individual differences in uncontrolled eating, food consumption, nor their interaction on food reward sensitivity. Differences in uncontrolled eating and food consumption did interact in modulating activity in the left superior occipital gyrus during response inhibition of non-food stimuli, an area previously associated with successful nogo- vs. go-trials. Yet, behavioural performance on the go-nogo task was not modulated by uncontrolled eating nor food consumption. Women with a low/average tendency for uncontrolled eating may need more cognitive resources to support successful response inhibition of non-food stimuli during food ‘go’ blocks in an inter-meal hunger state, whereas women with a high tendency for uncontrolled eating showed this after food consumption. Considering current and previous findings, it seems that individual differences in uncontrolled eating in healthy women have only limited influence on food reward sensitivity and food-related inhibitory control, whereas differences in weight status (e.g., obesity) may have more impact.