Brief Mindfulness Reduces Emotional Eating Via the Alleviation of Negative Emotions

Brief Mindfulness Reduces Emotional Eating Via the Alleviation of Negative Emotions | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Brief Mindfulness Reduces Emotional Eating Via the Alleviation of Negative Emotions Xiaoxuan Ren, Wanjun Huang, Hong Yuan, Xiao Gao This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7345155/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Emotional eating, characterized by dysregulated food intake in response to negative emotions, represents a significant public health concern with potential progression to severe eating disorders. Given its public health implications, there is a critical need for effective early interventions. Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT) has emerged as a promising approach by enhancing self-regulation through increased awareness of hunger, satiety, and negative emotions. The current study examined the effectiveness of a brief mindfulness intervention in mitigating emotional eating among female undergraduate students ( N = 127). Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: mindfulness intervention, distraction, or control group. Following negative emotion induction via autobiographical recall, participants engaged in different eating scenarios. The mindfulness group practiced brief mindful breathing and mindful eating of 5 mini-Oreo cookies, while other groups followed standard consumption protocols of the same food. After that participants were provided with snacks through an ad libitum task, and calories intake were calculated. Results indicated that, after controlling for trait Acting with Awareness, the brief mindfulness intervention significantly reduced calorie intake compared to other two groups. Mediation analyses demonstrated a significant indirect effect through reduced negative emotions ( β = -0.16, p = 0.02), and a marginal indirect effect via enhanced satiety sensitivity ( β = -0.15, p = 0.06). These findings suggest mindfulness as a "just-in-time" tool to resist emotional eating. emotional eating negative emotion mindfulness mindful eating brief Figures Figure 1 Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 Figure 6 1. Introduction Emotional eating, characterized by food consumption driven by negative emotions rather than physiological hunger (Ganley, 1989; Nguyen-Rodriguez et al., 2009 ; Ricca et al., 2012 ; Waller & Osman, 1998 ), represents a pervasive behavior with significant public health implications. Particularly prevalent among young females (Frayn, 2018 ), it constitutes a known risk factor for developing more severe eating disorders, including binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa (Saekow et al., 2015 ; van Strien, 2018 ). This established link underscores the urgent need for effective early interventions. A core feature of emotional eating involves diminished perception of hunger and satiety signals, leading to dysregulated food intake (Ricca et al., 2012 ). Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT), developed by Kristeller and colleagues, provides a promising framework for addressing this dysregulation by enhancing awareness of hunger, satiety, sensory satisfaction, emotional triggers, and overeating impulses (Kristeller & Hallett, 1999 ; Kristeller & Wolever, 2010 ). Although comprehensive MB-EAT programs demonstrate efficacy, their accessibility for individuals without prior training seeking immediate coping strategies remains limited. This gap highlights the potential utility of brief, targeted mindfulness components that can serve as accessible "strategic pauses" during emotional eating urges. Mindful breathing, a core practice adapted from mindfulness-based interventions including MB-EAT (Kabat-Zinn, 1990 ; Kristeller & Wolever, 2011), cultivates awareness of internal states such as emotions and eating patterns. Evidence suggests mindful breathing can reduce negative affect in populations like those with social anxiety disorder (Goldin & Gross, 2010), enhance emotional awareness to facilitate regulation (Hofmann & Asmundson, 2008), and delay impulsive responses to negative stimuli (Beblo et al., 2017 ). Neuroimaging studies further indicate potential mechanisms, including modulation of emotion-regulation circuits (Chan et al., 2008 ), promotion of balanced brain activity associated with positive affect (Barnhofer et al., 2007 ), and attenuation of dopamine-driven cravings for high-calorie foods (Bello & Hajnal, 2008 ). However, the specific efficacy of brief mindful breathing as a standalone tool for mitigating emotional eating urges in individuals without prior mindfulness training remains inadequately explored. This study directly addresses this gap by investigating the immediate effects of a brief mindfulness intervention combining mindful breathing and eating on emotional eating behavior and its underlying psychological mechanisms. Mindful eating, another core MB-EAT component, cultivates nonjudgmental awareness during consumption, specifically targeting recognition of hunger and satiety signals to enhance interoceptive sensitivity (Kristeller & Hallett, 1999 ). This heightened awareness facilitates more regulated eating patterns (Barnhofer et al., 2007 ). Empirical evidence consistently demonstrates that greater satiety awareness reduces caloric intake (Rolls et al., 2008 ), and mindful eating interventions effectively decrease snack consumption, improve food choices, and mitigate emotional eating (Forman et al., 2013 ; Jenkins & Tapper, 2013 ). Standardized practices, such as the "raisin exercise," enhance sensory awareness and satiety signal detection (Bennett, 2020 ), promoting healthier eating patterns (Katterman et al., 2014) and reducing impulsive intake (Daubenmier et al., 2016). Building on this evidence, the present study incorporates a mindful eating component specifically designed to enhance satiety awareness and reduce subsequent caloric consumption. Therefore, this study aims to develop and evaluate a brief, dual-component mindfulness intervention (mindful breathing + mindful eating) as an immediate coping strategy for emotional eating, explicitly testing its underlying psychological mechanisms. Although direct evidence for brief mindfulness interventions specifically on emotional eating is limited, research indicates that even abbreviated protocols can rapidly modulate attentional and neurocognitive processes central to emotion regulation (Mrazek et al., 2012 ; Sormaz et al., 2005). Based on this framework, we hypothesize that: 1)The brief mindfulness intervention will significantly reduce ad libitum caloric intake following negative emotion induction compared to both control and distraction conditions. 2༉The effect of the mindful breathing component will be partially mediated by a reduction in negative emotion. 3༉The effect of the mindful eating component will be mediated by enhanced sensitivity to interoceptive cues (perceived hunger and satiety). 2. Methods 2.1 Participants One hundred and twenty-seven female undergraduate students were recruited for this study. Six including Four participants did not complete the experiment, and 2 participant's total calorie intake exceeded three standard deviations from the total mean. Thus, these six participants were excluded, resulting in the final sample of 121 participants. Their average age was 20.73 ± 1.00 years old, and their average Body Mass Index (BMI) was 20.65 ± 2.42 kg/m². All participants were randomly assigned to three groups, namely the Mindful Breathing and Eating (MB-Eat) group ( n = 40), the Distraction group ( n = 40), and the Control group ( n = 41). All participants reported normal vision or normal corrected vision, no taste and attention disorders, no special dietary contraindications, and no major chronic diseases or mental illnesses. 2.2 Measures Emotional eating . The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire-Emotional Eating subscale (DEBQ-EM; Tatjana et al., 1986) was used to assess participants’ emotional eating behaviours. This subscale has 13 items, and each was measured on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 = Never to 5 = Always . In the current sample, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of DEBQ-EM was 0.90. Trait mindfulness. The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) developed by Baer et al. ( 2006 ) was used to measure trait mindfulness. It consists of 39 items, and each item was scored on a 5-point scale, with 1 = Never or very rarely true and 5 = Very often or always true . The scale consists of five dimensions, namely Observing, Describing, Acting with Awareness, Non-judging of Experience and Non-reactivity to Experience. The total scores can be accumulated, or the dimension scores can be calculated individually, with higher scores representing higher levels of trait mindfulness. The internal consistency coefficients for the four dimensions of Observing, Describing, Acting with Awareness, and Non-judging of Experience in the Five-Factor mindfulness Scale were 0.78, 0.79, 0.87, and 0.79, respectively. State negative emotions. State negative emotions included four types of emotions, namely anxiety, sadness, depression and anger, during the experiment were measured. Example items included “How anxious you feel right now?”, “How sad you feel right now?” Each item was assessed using a 7-point self-rating scale. Ranging from 1 = Not at all to 7 = Extremely . State internal states. A 7-point state self-assessment scale includes hunger and satiety, such as "Please feel careful how full/hungry you feel right now? ". Each item was measured on a 7-point scale, ranging from 1 = Not at all to 7 = Extremely . 2.3 Food for ad libitum task Six popular and commonly recognized foods were adopted for ad libitum task. They were classified into unhealthy foods (crisps, sachima, dried pork, chocolate beans) and healthy foods (Millennium Fruit, almonds) based on the calorie content and degree of processing method, as well as the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (Shi, 2016 ). The principal investigator measured the weight of the food before and after consumption using an electronic scale. The calorie consumption (in kcal) was calculated based on the difference in weight, which represented the amount of food consumed. 2.4 Experimental tasks Negative emotion induction by autobiographical memory tasks. Autobiographical memory tasks (Brewer et al., 1980 ; Wright & Mischel, 1982) were used to elicit negative emotions. Participants were instructed to recall and write in the first person about their most distressing negative life event, providing detailed descriptions of sensory, contextual, and emotional experiences while focusing on their subjective feelings, with a minimum requirement of 200 words. Mindful breathing exercise. Participants engaged in a 3-minute standardized mindful breathing task administered via audio recording. Adopting an upright sitting posture (feet flat on the floor, hands resting palms-up on thighs, back unsupported), they were instructed to: (a) focus attention nonjudgmentally on the physical sensations of breathing (e.g., nasal airflow, thoracic movement); (b) acknowledge transient thoughts and emotions without cognitive engagement, gently redirecting focus to breath upon distraction; while (c) maintaining metacognitive awareness of present-moment experience. The protocol incorporated three deep initial breaths to establish attentional anchoring, continuous monitoring of somatosensory cues, non-reactive observation of affective phenomena, and a terminal breath before task completion. Mindful eating exercise. Participants completed an 11-minute standardized mindful eating protocol while consuming five mini Oreo cookies (total 60 kcal). Guided by audio instructions, they engaged in multi-sensory processing of each cookie through: (1) visual inspection of morphological features, (2) tactile exploration of texture, (3) olfactory assessment, (4) auditory monitoring during mastication, and (5) gustatory attention during slow chewing. Concurrently, they tracked real-time interoceptive dynamics of hedonic responses across four phases: pre-ingestive anticipation, initial mastication, swallow impulse onset, and post-deglutition satiety signaling, while maintaining nonjudgmental metacognitive awareness of craving-satisfaction cycles. ad Libitum consumption task. Participants completed a 10-minute ad libitum feeding trial with six palatable snacks presented in standardized portions. Consumption was self-terminated upon satiation or at time expiration. Residual food mass was measured using analytical balances (± 0.1g), with caloric intake calculated by applying manufacturer-derived energy density values (kcal/g) to pre-post consumption mass differentials. 2.5 Procedure The current study received ethical approval from an institutional review board (Approval Date: March 18, 2024). We implemented campus-wide recruitment targeting all enrolled students through online advertisements and posters, inviting individuals interested in exploring eating-emotion linkages. Notably, all 127 respondents were female—an emergent sample characteristic reflecting real-world engagement patterns. As the flowchart shows in Fig. 2 , participants were tested individually and instructed to refrain from eating for 1 hour before the experiment. They first signed a consent form, and then their body weight was measured using a medical body composition analyzer (M515; SECA, Hamburg, Germany), and height was measured using SECA 360°stadiometer (287 dp). BMI was then calculated using the SECA M515. After that they completed a package of questionnaires including (DEBQ-EM & FFMQ & Demographic Information Questionnaire). Participants first finished autobiographical memory tasks to elicit negative emotions. After that, participants underwent one of three 14-minute manipulations. Participants in the mindfulness intervention group completed a 3-minute mindful breathing exercise followed by 11 minutes of mindful eating exercise to eat five mini-Oreo biscuits. Those in the Distraction group consumed five mini-Oreo biscuits at their own pace while viewing clips from Handmade China . Participants in the Control group were asked to eat five mini-Oreo biscuits within 11 minutes. If they finished eating earlier, they were free to read the textbook on Educational Psychology for the rest of the time. It is worth mentioning that we measured state emotions and internal states at five specific time points, labeled as T1 through T5. These time points are clearly indicated in Fig. 2 . State negative emotions included four types of emotions, namely anxiety, sadness, depression, and anger. Example items included "How anxious do you feel right now?" and "How sad do you feel right now?" Each item was assessed using a 7-point self-rating scale, ranging from 1 = Not at all to 7 = Extremely. State internal states were also measured using a 7-point scale, including items such as "How full do you feel right now?" and "How hungry do you feel right now?" Each item was rated on a scale from 1 = Not at all to 7 = Extremely. All participants were compensated for their time with a payment after completing the study. They were also provided with a debriefing session at the end of the experiment to explain the purpose and findings of the study. 2.6 Statistic analyses Data analyses were performed using SPSS 26.0 and Mplus 8.3. To quantify the overall state of negative emotions, a composite score was created by averaging the ratings of four specific emotions: sadness, depression, anger, and anxiety. Specifically, the negative emotion score was calculated as follows: Negative emotion scores = (Sad + Depression + Anger + Anxiety) / 4. Paired sample t -test were used to test whether the the autobiographical memory tasks succeed eliciting negative emotions. A one-way ANOVA was used to examine the effect of the mindfulness intervention on caloric intake. Then, a 3 (Group: MB-Eat, Control vs. Distraction groups) × 2 (Food Type: Healthy vs. Unhealthy) repeated-measures ANOVA was conducted to assess the effects of mindfulness intervention on caloric intake across two types of food. Further, in order to test the hypothesized mediational effects of negative emotion and internal state (satiety and hunger), the following analyses were carried out: 1) a 5 (Time point: T1, T2, T3, T4 vs. T5) × 3 (Group: MB-Eat, Control vs. Distraction groups) repeated measures ANOVA was conducted for all three intermediate variables (state negative emotion, state satiety and hunger ratings) during the whole experiment task; 2) a one-way ANOVA was performed on the means and changes of the three intermediate variables in the stages of mindful breathing and mindful eating to determine the relationship between the group and the intermediate variables. 3)Subsequently, a correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationships between the intermediate variables and the amount of food intake, as well as between the pretest variables and the amount of food intake.4) Based on the results of these analyses, a parallel mediation model was constructed. Pretest variables that showed a significant correlation with the amount of food intake were included as control variables in the model. 3. Results 3.1 Participants’ characteristics There were no statistically significant differences between the three groups in any variables except age at the baseline of the experiment. The mean age of the MB-Eat group was 20.30 years (SD = 0.88), the Control group was 21.05 years (SD = 1.09), and the Distraction group was 20.88 years (SD = 0.94). Their characteristics were presented in Table 1 . Table 1 Participant characteristics and demographics. MB-Eat group ( n = 40) Control group ( n = 41) Distraction group ( n = 40) F BMI 20.96 ± 2.22 20.76 ± 2.74 20.30 ± 2.28 0.77 Age 20.30 ± 0.88 21.05 ± 1.09 20.88 ± 0.94 6.48** FFMQ Observing 25.23 ± 4.44 25.46 ± 3.99 24.87 ± 4.99 0.18 Describing 24.88 ± 4.26 25.88 ± 4.56 26.25 ± 4.65 1.00 Acting with Awareness 27.72 ± 5.09 27.46 ± 5.30 26.58 ± 5.83 0.50 Non-judging 23.42 ± 3.99 24.83 ± 3.92 24.62 ± 4.12 1.44 Non-reacting 18.90 ± 2.78 19.37 ± 2.73 19.88 ± 2.52 1.32 Total 120.15 ± 9.43 123.00 ± 10.17 122.2 ± 11.6 0.80 DEBQ-EM 36.30 ± 8.13 36.20 ± 9.29 36.10 ± 9.52 0.01 Note. BMI = Body Mass Index; FFMQ = Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire; DEBQ-EM = Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire-Emotional Eating sub-scale;MB-Eat group = Mindful Breathing and Eating group * p < 0.05 3.2 Manipulation checking Paired sample t -tests were conducted on the negative emotional states and internal states pre- and post- autobiographical memory tasks, namely at T1 and T2. Results shew significant increase in each negative emotions from T1 to T2 (Table 2 ), indicating that this task successfully induced negative emotions. State satiety and hunger ratings did not significantly change after autobiographical memory tasks. Table 2 Paired samples t -test for negative emotion inducing T1 T2 t Negative emotions 2.06 ± 0.93 3.67 ± 1.26 13.35*** Sad 1.90 ± 1.17 3.93 ± 1.64 12.28*** Depression 2.05 ± 1.25 4.03 ± 1.67 12.20*** Anger 1.31 ± 0.67 2.50 ± 1.63 8.27*** Anxiety 2.98 ± 1.45 4.22 ± 1.50 8.08*** Hunger 3.79 ± 1.11 3.88 ± 1.09 0.78 Satiety 4.10 ± 1.19 3.77 ± 1.39 2.88 Note. Negative emotions = (Sad + Depression + Anger + Anxiety) / 4 *** p < 0.001 Since there are participants with BMIs greater than 24 and 28, correlation analyses were then conduct between BMIs and six specific negative emotions at T1 and T2. No significant correlation was found. 3.3 The effects of intervention on calorie intake One-way ANOVA showed a significant difference in total calorie intake among the three groups, F (2, 118) = 21.35, p < 0.001. Post hoc analysis showed that the total calorie intake among MB-Eat group (50.73 ± 22.02) was significantly lower than those among the Control group (89.29 ± 47.02, p < 0.001) and the Distraction group (114.69 ± 55.94, p < 0.001), and the Control group was significantly lower than the Distraction group ( p = 0.01). Further analysis of the differences in the calorie intake of healthy and unhealthy foods among the groups, using a 2 (food type: healthy vs. unhealthy food) × 3 (group: MB-Eat, Control, vs. Distraction group) ANOVA, showed that the main effect of food type, F (2,118) = 147.57, p < 0.001, and group, F (2,118) = 21.35, p < 0.001, was significant. In addition, the interaction of food type × group was significant, F (2,118) = 11.71, p < 0.001. Simple effect analysis showed that in the calorie intake of unhealthy foods, the MB-Eat group (35.02 ± 16.67) took significantly less unhealthy food than the Control group (67.22 ± 44.07, p = 0.001) and the Distraction group (86.85 ± 48.06, p < 0.001) did. Moreover, in healthy food intake, the Distraction group (27.84 ± 15.40) ate significant more healthy food than the mindfulness intervention group did (15.71 ± 9.96, p < 0.001). The data indicated that individuals in the MB-Eat group consumed fewer total calories, with decreases seen in both healthy and unhealthy food intake. 3.4 Potential psychological mechanisms underlying mindfulness intervention in reducing emotional eating 3.4.1 Negative emotion alleviation A 5 (Time: T1-T5) × 3 (Group: MB-Eat, Control, vs. Distraction groups) repeated measurement analysis of variance was conducted to investigate negative emotions change during the whole experiment (Fig. 4 a). The results showed a significant main effect of Time, F (2, 118) = 93.40, p < 0.001, which was yielded by a significant time × group interaction, F (2, 118) = 3.94, p = 0.005. and the main effect of the group was not significant, F (2, 118) = 0.31, p = 0.74. Simple effects analysis revealed that in the MB-Eat group, negative emotion scores differed significantly across time points, except between T1 and T3 ( p > 0.05). Specifically, negative emotion at T3 (end of mindful breathing stage, 2.26 ± 0.86) was significantly lower than at T2 (before mindful breathing, 3.83 ± 1.15; p < 0.001). Furthermore, negative emotion further decreased at T4 (end of mindful eating, 1.72 ± 0.55), showing a significant reduction compared to T3 ( p < 0.001 ). In the Control group, negative emotion scores differed significantly across time points (all p 0.05). Specifically, negative emotion at T3 (end of experiment introduction, 2.58 ± 1.00) was significantly lower than at T2 (before experiment introduction, 3.49 ± 1.36; p < 0.001). A further reduction was observed at T4 (end of eating, 2.13 ± 0.93), which was significantly lower than at T3 ( p < 0.001). In the Distraction group, negative emotion scores showed significant differences across all time points (all p 0.05). Specifically, negative emotion decreased significantly from T2 (before experiment introduction, 3.71 ± 1.26) to T3 (end of experiment introduction, 2.64 ± 1.15; p < 0.001). This downward trend continued, with scores at T4 (end of eating with film, 1.85 ± 0.91) being significantly lower than at T3 ( p < 0.001). The results demonstrated a significant reduction in negative emotions from T2 to T3 across all three groups. To specifically evaluate the efficacy of mindful breathing in alleviating negative emotions, a one-way ANOVA comparing the three groups’ emotional changes during this interval was carried out (Fig. 4 c). The analysis revealed significant between-group differences in T2-T3 negative emotion reduction, F (2, 118) = 4.75, p = 0.01. Post hoc comparisons showed that the MB-Eat group exhibited significantly greater reduction (1.57 ± 1.08) than both the Control group (0.91 ± 0.95, p = 0.004) and the Distraction group (1.08 ± 0.97, p = 0.029). Furthermore, to assess whether the effects of mindful breathing persisted during the subsequent ad libitum task, another one-way ANOVA on negative emotion changes from T4 to T5 was conducted. Results showed no significant differences between three groups, F (2, 118) = 2.20, p = .115, suggesting that the initial benefits of mindful breathing did not extend to this later experimental phase. These findings demonstrated that mindful breathing produces significantly greater immediate reductions in negative emotions compared to both Control and Distraction conditions, highlighting its potent short-term emotion-regulation benefits, thereby supporting our hypothesis. In order to examine whether mindful eating contributed to further reduction of negative emotions, a one-way ANOVA comparing the three groups’ emotional changes from T3 to T4 was conducted. The analysis revealed no significant between-group differences in negative emotion reduction during this phase, F (2, 118) = 2.72, p = 0.017, indicating that mindful eating did not produce additional emotion-regulation benefits beyond those achieved in previous stages. 3.4.2 Satiety A 5 (Time: T1-T5) × 3 (Group: MB-Eat, Control, vs. Distraction group) repeated measurement analysis of variance was conducted to examine changes in satiety during the whole experiment (Fig. 4 d). Results showed a significant main effect of Time, F (2, 118) = 5.08, p = 0.001, and Group, F (2, 118) = 6.36, p = 0.002, as well as a significant Time × Group interaction, F (2, 118) = 3.81, p = 0.006. Simple effect analysis showed that while the MB-Eat group maintained stable satiety levels across all timepoints (all p s > .05), the Control group exhibited a significant decrease from T1 (beginning of autobiographical memory task, 4.05 ± 1.16) to T5 (end of ad libitum task: 3.29 ± 1.25; p = .02). Similarly, the Distraction group showed significantly higher satiety at T1 (4.05 ± 1.22) compared to both T4 (3.28 ± 1.30, p = .002) and T5 (3.05 ± 1.38, p = .001). Between-group comparisons showed that the MB-Eat group reported greater satiety than the Distraction group at T3 (4.25 ± 1.37 vs. 3.65 ± 0.92, p = .041) and T4 (4.13 ± 1.62 vs. 3.28 ± 1.30, p = .019), and significantly higher satiety than both Control and Distraction groups at T5 (4.40 ± 1.23 vs. 3.29 ± 1.25 and 3.05 ± 1.38, respectively; both p s < .001). The above results demonstrate that while satiety levels in the MB-Eat group showed some fluctuation, they remained consistently high without significant changes throughout the experiment (all p s > .05, Fig. 4 e). Notably, from T3 onward, MB-Eat group maintained significantly higher satiety compared to both Control and Distraction groups. To specifically examine the effect of mindfulness-based eating on satiety, a one-way ANOVA comparing satiety scores during the T3-T4 was conducted. Results revealed significant between-group differences, F (2, 118) = 6.38, p = .002, with the MB-Eat group (4.19 ± 0.15) showing significantly higher satiety than the Control (3.61 ± 0.15, p = .008) and Distraction groups (3.46 ± 0.15, p = .001). These findings support our hypothesis that mindfulness-based eating promotes sustained satiety awareness. To examine whether mindful breathing contributed to higher satiety levels among participants, a one-way ANOVA was conducted on the T2-T3 satiety scores across the three groups. The analysis revealed no significant difference, F (2, 118) = 2.25, p = 0.11, indicating that mindful breathing did not significantly enhance satiety during this stage. Additionally, to determine whether the effects of mindful eating extended into the ad libitum task, another one-way ANOVA was performed on the T4-T5 satiety scores. This analysis showed a significant difference among the groups, F (2, 118) = 10.49, p < 0.001, suggesting that the mindful eating intervention had a lasting impact on satiety during the ad libitum phase. 3.4.3 Hunger To examine changes in hunger levels throughout the experiment, a 5 (Time: T1-T5) × 3 (Group: MB-Eat, Control, vs. Distraction groups) repeated-measures ANOVA was conducted (Fig. 4 b). Results revealed a significant main effect of time, F (2,118) = 20.36, p < 0.001. Post-hoc analyses demonstrated that all groups showed increased hunger at T5 compared to earlier time points: the MB-Eat group's T5 hunger (4.55 ± 0.93) was significantly higher than at T1 (3.80 ± 1.18, p = 0.001) and T3 (3.63 ± 1.15, p = 0.004). The main effect of group was not significant, F (2,118) = 0.046, p = 0.955. Importantly, a significant Time × Group interaction was observed, F (2,118) = 2.61, p = 0.039. The Control group showed higher T5 hunger (4.49 ± 1.05) versus T1 (3.90 ± 1.11, p = 0.021) and T2 (3.93 ± 0.96, p = 0.042); while the Distraction group exhibited the most pronounced increases, with T5 hunger (4.88 ± 0.97) significantly exceeding all previous measurements (T1: 3.68 ± 1.05; T2: 3.65 ± 1.15; T3: 3.82 ± 1.19; T4: 4.07 ± 0.94; all p s 0.05). We then analyzed the relationship between hunger and energy intake by calculating both change scores during the T2-T3 and T3-T4 intervals. Correlation analyses revealed that total energy intake was significantly associated with hunger changes in both time windows: negatively during T2-T3, r = -0.33, p < 0.01) and positively during T3-T4, r = 0.28, p < 0.01) (Fig. 5 a). However, one-way ANOVAs demonstrated no significant group differences in hunger change scores for either T2-T3, F (2,118) = 1.32, p = 0.27, or T3-T4, F (2,118) = 0.65, p = 0.53. 3.5 Construct a parallel mediation model with group as the independent variable and Total calories intake as the dependent variable. To construct the parallel mediation model examining how group assignment (independent variable) influenced total calorie intake (dependent variable) through potential mediators, we established measurement timeframes based on intervention dynamics: (1)Negative emotions: Change score during T2-T3 (selected due to significant group differences, F (2, 118) = 4.75, p = 0.01. ). (2)Satiety: Mean ratings during T3-T4 (selected due to significant group differences, F (2, 118) = 6.38, p = 0.002). (3)Hunger was excluded as a candidate mediator because repeated-measures ANOVA confirmed nonsignificant group differences during critical phases (T2-T3: F (2,118) = 1.32, p = 0.27; T3-T4: F (2,118) = 0.65, p = 0.53). Subsequent correlation analyses revealed that the change in negative emotions during the T2-T3 stage significantly correlated with total calorie intake ( r = -0.254, p < 0.01), indicating that changes in negative emotions were related to energy intake. Additionally, no significant relationship was found between mean satiety during the T3-T4 stage and total calorie intake ( r = -0.143, p > .05). These findings provided a basis for including negative emotions as a mediator in the model. Furthermore, the Acting with Awareness dimension of the FFMQ scale showed significant correlations with both total calorie intake ( r = -0.28, p < 0.01) and satiety during the T3-T4 stage ( r = -0.45, p < 0.01). Given these significant relationships, Acting with Awareness was included as a covariate in the mediation model to control for its effects on both energy intake and satiety. Based on these findings, a parallel mediation analysis using path analysis was conducted in Mplus to examine the mechanisms through which mindfulness intervention influences total calorie intake. The model included group assignment (MB-Eat, Control vs. Distraction groups) as the independent variable, total calorie intake as the dependent variable, and two parallel mediators: (1) changes in negative emotion during the mindful breathing phase (T2-T3) and (2) changes in satiety during the mindful eating phase (T3-T4). The path analysis revealed that satiety changes, but not hunger changes, were ultimately selected for the final model based on model fit indices. Acting with Awareness, which showed significant correlations with both total calorie intake and satiety, was included as a covariate to control for its effects on these variables. Results revealed three key findings: First, the model demonstrated excellent fit ( χ² = 0.89, df = 2, p = 0.64; CFI = 1.00; RMSEA = 0.00; SRMR = 0.02), accounting for 9.45% of emotional eating variance ( R² = 0.095). Second, the intervention exerted a significant direct effect on emotional eating reduction ( β = -0.22, p = 0.01, f² = 0.047). Third, path analyses indicated: (a) a significant indirect effect through negative emotions ( β = -0.16, p = 0.02, κ² = 0.024; accounting for 17.83% of total effect), and (b) a marginal indirect effect via satiety ( β = -0.15, p = 0.06, κ² = 0.023; accounting for 20.95% of total effect). The satiety pathway's marginal significance (p = 0.06) suggests its substantive contribution despite not reaching conventional thresholds. Collectively, mindfulness reduces emotional eating through direct effects and dual mediation pathways (Fig. 6 -Model 1; full coefficients in Table 3 ). Table 3 Parallel Mediation Model of Group on Total Calorie Intake via Negative Emotion reduction (T2-T3) and Mean Satiety (T3-T4). β S.E. BootLLCL BootULCL Direct effect MB-Eat — Total calories -23.52 9.33 -42.72 -5.87 MB-Eat — \(\:{\varDelta\:\text{N}\text{E}}_{\text{T}2-\text{T}3}\) 0.66 0.23 0.21 1.09 MB-Eat — \(\:{\text{M}\text{e}\text{a}\text{n}\:\text{s}\text{a}\text{t}\text{i}\text{e}\text{t}\text{y}}_{\text{T}3-\text{T}4}\) 0.77 0.19 0.38 1.14 Distraction — Total calories 26.49 10.91 5.64 48.94 Distraction \(\:{\:—\varDelta\:\text{N}\text{E}}_{\text{T}2-\text{T}3}\) 0.17 0.21 -0.27 0.57 Distraction — \(\:{\text{M}\text{e}\text{a}\text{n}\:\text{s}\text{a}\text{t}\text{i}\text{e}\text{t}\text{y}}_{\text{T}3-\text{T}4}\) -0.11 0.15 -0.41 0.18 \(\:{\varDelta\:\text{N}\text{E}}_{\text{T}2-\text{T}3}\) Total calories -7.72 3.36 -14.30 -1.24 \(\:{\text{M}\text{e}\text{a}\text{n}\:\text{S}\text{a}\text{t}\text{i}\text{e}\text{t}\text{y}}_{\text{T}3-\text{T}4}\) — Total calories -7.77 4.26 -16.35 0.25 Acting with awareness — Total calories -2.78 0.94 -4.63 -0.95 Acting with awareness — \(\:{\text{M}\text{e}\text{a}\text{n}\:\text{S}\text{a}\text{t}\text{i}\text{e}\text{t}\text{y}}_{\text{T}3-\text{T}4}\) -0.10 0.02 -0.13 -0.07 Indirect effects MB-Eat — \(\:{\varDelta\:\text{N}\text{E}}_{\text{T}2-\text{T}3}\) —Total calories -5.10 3.01 -12.94 -0.90 MB-Eat — \(\:{\text{M}\text{e}\text{a}\text{n}\:\text{s}\text{a}\text{t}\text{i}\text{e}\text{t}\text{y}}_{\text{T}3-\text{T}4}\) —Total calories -5.99 3.47 -14.33 -0.08 Distraction \(\:{\:—\varDelta\:\text{N}\text{E}}_{\text{T}2-\text{T}3}\) —Total calories -1.29 1.83 -6.05 1.66 Distraction — \(\:{\text{M}\text{e}\text{a}\text{n}\:\text{s}\text{a}\text{t}\text{i}\text{e}\text{t}\text{y}}_{\text{T}3-\text{T}4}\) — Total calories 0.89 1.59 -0.91 6.16 Total indirect effects MB-Eat -11.09 4.41 -20.07 -2.68 Distraction -0.40 2.28 -4.68 4.76 Total effects MB-Eat -34.61 8.34 -49.82 -16.80 Distraction 26.34 11.18 5.05 48.98 4. Discussion The current study demonstrated that brief, single-session mindfulness practices—combining mindful breathing and eating—significantly reduce caloric intake during emotional eating episodes induced by negative affect. While prior research predominantly examined multi-session interventions for general dietary change (e.g., Katterman et al., 2014; Warren et al., 2017 ), our findings reveal the immediate effects of abbreviated techniques in attenuating food consumption. This suggests such accessible, low-intensity tools offer viable "just-in-time" coping strategies for acute emotional eating without requiring extensive training, highlighting their potential clinical utility during states of emotional distress. Our findings elucidate the psychological mechanism underlying brief mindfulness breathing’s efficacy. This intervention produced significantly greater reductions in negative affect compared to both control and distraction groups, with this emotional regulation mediating subsequent food intake. Specifically, greater negative emotion reduction predicted lower energy consumption, aligning with Gibson’s ( 2012 ) model positing energy-dense food consumption as maladaptive coping strategy for negative emotions. This extends prior work (Beblo et al.’s, 2017) by demonstrating that brief mindfulness disrupts the emotion-eating cycle. These behavioral effects may reflect neuroadaptive changes in reward processing:Neurobiological evidence suggests mindfulness may attenuate high-calorie food reward sensitivity via dopamine modulation (Bello & Hajnal, 2008 ). Crucially, mindful breathing targets both emotional triggers and behavioral responses, providing a mechanistic basis for clinical application. Mindful eating significantly enhanced satiety perception during the intervention, with the mindfulness group demonstrating progressively greater awareness compared to both control groups. This extends foundational MB-EAT principles (Kristeller & Hallett, 1999 ) by establishing the single-exposure efficacy of mindful eating for enhancing interoceptive awareness. Parallel mediation analyses indicated that heightened satiety awareness marginally mediated emotional eating reduction (indirect effect = 20.95% of total; p = .06), consistent with Rolls et al.’s ( 2008 ) sensory-specific satiety framework whereby earlier satiety recognition reduces overconsumption. These exploratory findings suggest satiety awareness may function as a rapidly modifiable mechanism—with potential clinical relevance for interrupting emotion-driven eating cycles. Future research should examine neurocognitive substrates, particularly homeostatic-hedonic system interactions. In contrast to the marginally significant mediation through satiety awareness, hunger perception did not significantly mediate the intervention's effects on emotional eating (β = -0.15, p = 0.06). This aligns with prior mindfulness studies showing limited modulation of hunger (Marchiori et al., 2013). Theoretically, this suggests mindfulness primarily enhances interoceptive awareness and top-down behavioral control rather than altering fundamental hunger physiology governed by robust biological pathways (e.g., glucose homeostasis, ghrelin-leptin signaling; Cummings & Overduin, 2007). Notably, mindfulness reduced emotional eating without perturbing hunger homeostasis—a clinically valuable dissociation supporting its safety profile for populations with hunger dysregulation (e.g., eating disorders)., brief psychosocial interventions likely lack potency to override these entrenched mechanisms. To account for individual differences in baseline mindfulness capacity, we covaried for the trait “Acting with Awareness”. This methodological rigor ensures observed effects reflect intervention efficacy rather than preexisting characteristics, strengthening causal inference. Future mindfulness research should systematically measure and control for such baseline traits to enhance validity. However, unexpected findings warrant discussion. First, we observed no preference for healthier foods in the mindfulness group during ad libitum intake. This absence may reflect the long-term nature of dietary preference or habit, which is unlikely to be altered by brief interventions—and methodological constraints: our primary focus on energy intake (rather than food-type analysis) obscures selection patterns given differential energy density across foods. Additionally, only satiety significantly mediated intervention effects, with no observed hunger mediation, which may suggest the intervention’s brevity may have limited engagement with hunger-regulation mechanisms. Future studies should test whether extended practice enhances integration of both hunger and satiety cues. 5. Conclusion Brief mindfulness intervention integrating mindful breathing and mindful eating effectively reduces negative emotion-induced caloric intake in young women. The psychological mechanism primarily involves significant alleviation of negative emotions through mindful breathing (mediating 17.83% of total effect, β = -0.16, p = .02), with a noteworthy contribution from enhanced satiety sensitivity through mindful eating—marginally significant ( β = -0.15, p = .06) yet accounting for 20.95% of total effect—both pathways observed after controlling for trait “Acting with Awareness”. This dual-process modulation collectively reduces emotional eating. Declarations Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Author Contribution Xiaoxuan Ren: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Visualization,Writing – review & editing;Wanjun Huang: Writing – review & editing，Methodology，Investigation，Data curation，Conceptualization；Hong Yuan： Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision,Writing – review & editing;Xiao Gao : Project administration, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization, Resources, Methodology, Supervision, Writing – review & editing. Acknowledgment This study received funding from a national science foundation and university research grants. Data Availability All data used in this study are publicly available. To assess the data, please contact the corresponding author. References Alberts, H. J. E. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7345155","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":507075604,"identity":"a3b76372-12c4-4783-b1e5-a063d642681b","order_by":0,"name":"Xiaoxuan Ren","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Southwest University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiaoxuan","middleName":"","lastName":"Ren","suffix":""},{"id":507075605,"identity":"ec1e2c85-7bbd-4e44-becb-bd545b804ac3","order_by":1,"name":"Wanjun Huang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Southwest University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Wanjun","middleName":"","lastName":"Huang","suffix":""},{"id":507075607,"identity":"717aeb17-5985-4150-9b5a-e422db049040","order_by":2,"name":"Hong Yuan","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Southwest University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Hong","middleName":"","lastName":"Yuan","suffix":""},{"id":507075609,"identity":"3c411f05-1029-4abf-ba93-d0546acdc4f4","order_by":3,"name":"Xiao Gao","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA0klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYLCCBCDmhzCZSdAi2UCSFhAwOECsFnn3w8ckHtTYJG4+f8ZMgqHCOrGB/ewBvFoMz6QlGyQcSzM2u5ED1HImPbGBJy8Bv5aGHMMHCWyH5cxu8G6TYGw7nNggwWOAX0v/G4MDCf8O8xj3nwVq+UeEFnkJoC2JbYflDBhygVoaiNBiIPEs2SCxL81Y4kb+Z4uEY+nGbTw5BGzpTz4m+eObTWJ//7HEGx9qrGX72c8QsOUAMi8BiNnwqgfZ0kBIxSgYBaNgFIwCABW8Q4+Q4qq1AAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Southwest University","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiao","middleName":"","lastName":"Gao","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-08-11 10:08:32","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7345155/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7345155/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":90382410,"identity":"20000194-a2e1-41ad-93d9-59d195e7a40b","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-02 06:53:02","extension":"png","order_by":1,"title":"Figure 1","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":72456,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eBrief Mindfulness Intervention Model\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote\u003c/em\u003e. The MB-EAT intervention consists of Mindful Breathing and Mindful Eating practices.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"1.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7345155/v1/251773b5e3a7de2528d6589e.png"},{"id":90382411,"identity":"b34bf000-2a0f-4918-9b7b-ba4c700b2c4c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-02 06:53:02","extension":"png","order_by":2,"title":"Figure 2","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":179167,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eExperiment flowchart. Participants were divided into three groups after process \u003cstrong\u003ea\u003c/strong\u003e and then underwent processes \u003cstrong\u003eb\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003ec\u003c/strong\u003e, and \u003cstrong\u003ed\u003c/strong\u003e separately. The participants' Internal state and Negative emotions were measured at T2-T5, which was the same as T1. \u003cstrong\u003e(c)\u003c/strong\u003e after eating in the Eating only stage, participants could read educational psychology textbooks.\u003cstrong\u003e (d)\u003c/strong\u003e the specific content watched at the eating with film stage was the first episode of \"Handmade China\".\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"2.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7345155/v1/8b9e1577b848dff8e3d18e3e.png"},{"id":90383560,"identity":"9f8bf8b1-015f-4f55-bcf3-4595c87e06a6","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-02 07:01:02","extension":"png","order_by":3,"title":"Figure 3","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":164763,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eFood calorie consumption among three groups\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e***\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e \u0026lt; 0.001.\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"3.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7345155/v1/985944532de56800b5f9e97c.png"},{"id":90382415,"identity":"cd6568bd-6757-4329-b6ad-397e60bed390","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-02 06:53:02","extension":"png","order_by":4,"title":"Figure 4","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":347007,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003ePotential psychological mechanisms underlying mindfulness intervention to reduce emotional eating. a. Line graph of the change in negative emotion throughout the experiment.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eb. Line graph of the change in hunger throughout the experiment. c. During the T2-T3 stage, the change in negative emotion in the mindfulness intervention group was significantly higher than in the other two groups. d. Line graph of the change in satiety throughout the experiment. e. During the T3-T4 stage, the satiety level in the mindfulness intervention group was significantly higher than in the other two groups\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"4.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7345155/v1/a1c11ed66c6cd9137fb29bed.png"},{"id":90382416,"identity":"6d22f147-a641-4923-baf5-4d4c6a3e660c","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-02 06:53:02","extension":"png","order_by":5,"title":"Figure 5","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":113902,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eCorrelation analysis. X=non-significant at p\u0026lt; 0.05 (Adjustment: None).\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"5.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7345155/v1/3da8247426b01a0b861f6e0f.png"},{"id":90382427,"identity":"4cc227a4-2ba7-45d9-9be2-658f42ab1f73","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-02 06:53:02","extension":"png","order_by":6,"title":"Figure 6","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"figure","size":73423,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eParallel Mediation Model of Group on Total Calorie Intake via Negative Emotion reduction (T2-T3) and Mean Satiety (T3-T4).\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"6.png","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7345155/v1/764bea7de382d6e45cba7837.png"},{"id":90385070,"identity":"17abd9a7-4c23-4219-a2bf-f3687fd474de","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-09-02 07:17:04","extension":"pdf","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1841069,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"manuscript.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-7345155/v1/c1b32265-5d72-4757-b413-ed5bb4d409d3.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Brief Mindfulness Reduces Emotional Eating Via the Alleviation of Negative Emotions","fulltext":[{"header":"1. Introduction","content":"\u003cp\u003eEmotional eating, characterized by food consumption driven by negative emotions rather than physiological hunger (Ganley, 1989; Nguyen-Rodriguez et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR36\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2009\u003c/span\u003e; Ricca et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e; Waller \u0026amp; Osman, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR49\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1998\u003c/span\u003e), represents a pervasive behavior with significant public health implications. Particularly prevalent among young females (Frayn, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR15\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e), it constitutes a known risk factor for developing more severe eating disorders, including binge eating disorder and bulimia nervosa (Saekow et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR40\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2015\u003c/span\u003e; van Strien, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR48\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2018\u003c/span\u003e). This established link underscores the urgent need for effective early interventions.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA core feature of emotional eating involves diminished perception of hunger and satiety signals, leading to dysregulated food intake (Ricca et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR39\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e). Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT), developed by Kristeller and colleagues, provides a promising framework for addressing this dysregulation by enhancing awareness of hunger, satiety, sensory satisfaction, emotional triggers, and overeating impulses (Kristeller \u0026amp; Hallett, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1999\u003c/span\u003e; Kristeller \u0026amp; Wolever, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR26\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2010\u003c/span\u003e). Although comprehensive MB-EAT programs demonstrate efficacy, their accessibility for individuals without prior training seeking immediate coping strategies remains limited. This gap highlights the potential utility of brief, targeted mindfulness components that can serve as accessible \"strategic pauses\" during emotional eating urges.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMindful breathing, a core practice adapted from mindfulness-based interventions including MB-EAT (Kabat-Zinn, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR21\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1990\u003c/span\u003e; Kristeller \u0026amp; Wolever, 2011), cultivates awareness of internal states such as emotions and eating patterns. Evidence suggests mindful breathing can reduce negative affect in populations like those with social anxiety disorder (Goldin \u0026amp; Gross, 2010), enhance emotional awareness to facilitate regulation (Hofmann \u0026amp; Asmundson, 2008), and delay impulsive responses to negative stimuli (Beblo et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR53\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e). Neuroimaging studies further indicate potential mechanisms, including modulation of emotion-regulation circuits (Chan et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR12\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e), promotion of balanced brain activity associated with positive affect (Barnhofer et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2007\u003c/span\u003e), and attenuation of dopamine-driven cravings for high-calorie foods (Bello \u0026amp; Hajnal, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR57\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e). However, the specific efficacy of brief mindful breathing as a standalone tool for mitigating emotional eating urges in individuals without prior mindfulness training remains inadequately explored. This study directly addresses this gap by investigating the immediate effects of a brief mindfulness intervention combining mindful breathing and eating on emotional eating behavior and its underlying psychological mechanisms.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMindful eating, another core MB-EAT component, cultivates nonjudgmental awareness during consumption, specifically targeting recognition of hunger and satiety signals to enhance interoceptive sensitivity (Kristeller \u0026amp; Hallett, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1999\u003c/span\u003e). This heightened awareness facilitates more regulated eating patterns (Barnhofer et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR8\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2007\u003c/span\u003e). Empirical evidence consistently demonstrates that greater satiety awareness reduces caloric intake (Rolls et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR63\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e), and mindful eating interventions effectively decrease snack consumption, improve food choices, and mitigate emotional eating (Forman et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR60\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e; Jenkins \u0026amp; Tapper, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR20\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2013\u003c/span\u003e). Standardized practices, such as the \"raisin exercise,\" enhance sensory awareness and satiety signal detection (Bennett, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR10\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2020\u003c/span\u003e), promoting healthier eating patterns (Katterman et al., 2014) and reducing impulsive intake (Daubenmier et al., 2016). Building on this evidence, the present study incorporates a mindful eating component specifically designed to enhance satiety awareness and reduce subsequent caloric consumption.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTherefore, this study aims to develop and evaluate a brief, dual-component mindfulness intervention (mindful breathing\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;mindful eating) as an immediate coping strategy for emotional eating, explicitly testing its underlying psychological mechanisms. Although direct evidence for brief mindfulness interventions specifically on emotional eating is limited, research indicates that even abbreviated protocols can rapidly modulate attentional and neurocognitive processes central to emotion regulation (Mrazek et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR35\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e; Sormaz et al., 2005). Based on this framework, we hypothesize that: 1)The brief mindfulness intervention will significantly reduce ad libitum caloric intake following negative emotion induction compared to both control and distraction conditions. 2༉The effect of the mindful breathing component will be partially mediated by a reduction in negative emotion. 3༉The effect of the mindful eating component will be mediated by enhanced sensitivity to interoceptive cues (perceived hunger and satiety).\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"2. Methods","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec3\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.1 Participants\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne hundred and twenty-seven female undergraduate students were recruited for this study. Six including Four participants did not complete the experiment, and 2 participant's total calorie intake exceeded three standard deviations from the total mean. Thus, these six participants were excluded, resulting in the final sample of 121 participants. Their average age was 20.73\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.00 years old, and their average Body Mass Index (BMI) was 20.65\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.42 kg/m\u0026sup2;. All participants were randomly assigned to three groups, namely the Mindful Breathing and Eating (MB-Eat) group (\u003cem\u003en\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;40), the Distraction group (\u003cem\u003en\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;40), and the Control group (\u003cem\u003en\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;41). All participants reported normal vision or normal corrected vision, no taste and attention disorders, no special dietary contraindications, and no major chronic diseases or mental illnesses.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec4\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.2 Measures\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEmotional eating\u003c/em\u003e. The Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire-Emotional Eating subscale (DEBQ-EM; Tatjana et al., 1986) was used to assess participants\u0026rsquo; emotional eating behaviours. This subscale has 13 items, and each was measured on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003eNever\u003c/em\u003e to 5\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003eAlways\u003c/em\u003e. In the current sample, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of DEBQ-EM was 0.90.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTrait mindfulness.\u003c/em\u003e The Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ) developed by Baer et al. (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR5\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2006\u003c/span\u003e) was used to measure trait mindfulness. It consists of 39 items, and each item was scored on a 5-point scale, with 1\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003eNever or very rarely true\u003c/em\u003e and 5\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003eVery often or always true\u003c/em\u003e. The scale consists of five dimensions, namely Observing, Describing, Acting with Awareness, Non-judging of Experience and Non-reactivity to Experience. The total scores can be accumulated, or the dimension scores can be calculated individually, with higher scores representing higher levels of trait mindfulness. The internal consistency coefficients for the four dimensions of Observing, Describing, Acting with Awareness, and Non-judging of Experience in the Five-Factor mindfulness Scale were 0.78, 0.79, 0.87, and 0.79, respectively.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eState negative emotions.\u003c/em\u003e State negative emotions included four types of emotions, namely anxiety, sadness, depression and anger, during the experiment were measured. Example items included \u0026ldquo;How anxious you feel right now?\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;How sad you feel right now?\u0026rdquo; Each item was assessed using a 7-point self-rating scale. Ranging from 1\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003eNot at all\u003c/em\u003e to 7\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003eExtremely\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eState internal states.\u003c/em\u003e A 7-point state self-assessment scale includes hunger and satiety, such as \"Please feel careful how full/hungry you feel right now? \". Each item was measured on a 7-point scale, ranging from 1\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003eNot at all\u003c/em\u003e to 7\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;\u003cem\u003eExtremely\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec5\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.3 Food for \u003cem\u003ead libitum\u003c/em\u003e task\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eSix popular and commonly recognized foods were adopted for \u003cem\u003ead libitum\u003c/em\u003e task. They were classified into unhealthy foods (crisps, sachima, dried pork, chocolate beans) and healthy foods (Millennium Fruit, almonds) based on the calorie content and degree of processing method, as well as the Dietary Guidelines for Chinese Residents (Shi, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR43\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2016\u003c/span\u003e). The principal investigator measured the weight of the food before and after consumption using an electronic scale. The calorie consumption (in kcal) was calculated based on the difference in weight, which represented the amount of food consumed.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec6\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.4 Experimental tasks\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNegative emotion induction by autobiographical memory tasks.\u003c/em\u003e Autobiographical memory tasks (Brewer et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR11\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1980\u003c/span\u003e; Wright \u0026amp; Mischel, 1982) were used to elicit negative emotions. Participants were instructed to recall and write in the first person about their most distressing negative life event, providing detailed descriptions of sensory, contextual, and emotional experiences while focusing on their subjective feelings, with a minimum requirement of 200 words.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMindful breathing exercise.\u003c/em\u003e Participants engaged in a 3-minute standardized mindful breathing task administered via audio recording. Adopting an upright sitting posture (feet flat on the floor, hands resting palms-up on thighs, back unsupported), they were instructed to: (a) focus attention nonjudgmentally on the physical sensations of breathing (e.g., nasal airflow, thoracic movement); (b) acknowledge transient thoughts and emotions without cognitive engagement, gently redirecting focus to breath upon distraction; while (c) maintaining metacognitive awareness of present-moment experience. The protocol incorporated three deep initial breaths to establish attentional anchoring, continuous monitoring of somatosensory cues, non-reactive observation of affective phenomena, and a terminal breath before task completion.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMindful eating exercise.\u003c/em\u003e Participants completed an 11-minute standardized mindful eating protocol while consuming five mini Oreo cookies (total 60 kcal). Guided by audio instructions, they engaged in multi-sensory processing of each cookie through: (1) visual inspection of morphological features, (2) tactile exploration of texture, (3) olfactory assessment, (4) auditory monitoring during mastication, and (5) gustatory attention during slow chewing. Concurrently, they tracked real-time interoceptive dynamics of hedonic responses across four phases: pre-ingestive anticipation, initial mastication, swallow impulse onset, and post-deglutition satiety signaling, while maintaining nonjudgmental metacognitive awareness of craving-satisfaction cycles.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ead Libitum consumption task.\u003c/em\u003e Participants completed a 10-minute ad libitum feeding trial with six palatable snacks presented in standardized portions. Consumption was self-terminated upon satiation or at time expiration. Residual food mass was measured using analytical balances (\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.1g), with caloric intake calculated by applying manufacturer-derived energy density values (kcal/g) to pre-post consumption mass differentials.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec7\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.5 Procedure\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003e The current study received ethical approval from an institutional review board (Approval Date: March 18, 2024). We implemented campus-wide recruitment targeting all enrolled students through online advertisements and posters, inviting individuals interested in exploring eating-emotion linkages. Notably, all 127 respondents were female\u0026mdash;an emergent sample characteristic reflecting real-world engagement patterns. As the flowchart shows in Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e, participants were tested individually and instructed to refrain from eating for 1 hour before the experiment. They first signed a consent form, and then their body weight was measured using a medical body composition analyzer (M515; SECA, Hamburg, Germany), and height was measured using SECA 360\u0026deg;stadiometer (287 dp). BMI was then calculated using the SECA M515. After that they completed a package of questionnaires including (DEBQ-EM \u0026amp; FFMQ \u0026amp; Demographic Information Questionnaire).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e Participants first finished autobiographical memory tasks to elicit negative emotions. After that, participants underwent one of three 14-minute manipulations. Participants in the mindfulness intervention group completed a 3-minute mindful breathing exercise followed by 11 minutes of mindful eating exercise to eat five mini-Oreo biscuits. Those in the Distraction group consumed five mini-Oreo biscuits at their own pace while viewing clips from \u003cem\u003eHandmade China\u003c/em\u003e. Participants in the Control group were asked to eat five mini-Oreo biscuits within 11 minutes. If they finished eating earlier, they were free to read the textbook on Educational Psychology for the rest of the time.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is worth mentioning that we measured state emotions and internal states at five specific time points, labeled as T1 through T5. These time points are clearly indicated in Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e. State negative emotions included four types of emotions, namely anxiety, sadness, depression, and anger. Example items included \"How anxious do you feel right now?\" and \"How sad do you feel right now?\" Each item was assessed using a 7-point self-rating scale, ranging from 1\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Not at all to 7\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Extremely. State internal states were also measured using a 7-point scale, including items such as \"How full do you feel right now?\" and \"How hungry do you feel right now?\" Each item was rated on a scale from 1\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Not at all to 7\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Extremely.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAll participants were compensated for their time with a payment after completing the study. They were also provided with a debriefing session at the end of the experiment to explain the purpose and findings of the study.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec8\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e2.6 Statistic analyses\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eData analyses were performed using SPSS 26.0 and Mplus 8.3.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo quantify the overall state of negative emotions, a composite score was created by averaging the ratings of four specific emotions: sadness, depression, anger, and anxiety. Specifically, the negative emotion score was calculated as follows: Negative emotion scores = (Sad\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;Depression\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;Anger\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;Anxiety) / 4. Paired sample \u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e-test were used to test whether the the autobiographical memory tasks succeed eliciting negative emotions. A one-way ANOVA was used to examine the effect of the mindfulness intervention on caloric intake. Then, a 3 (Group: MB-Eat, Control vs. Distraction groups) \u0026times; 2 (Food Type: Healthy vs. Unhealthy) repeated-measures ANOVA was conducted to assess the effects of mindfulness intervention on caloric intake across two types of food. Further, in order to test the hypothesized mediational effects of negative emotion and internal state (satiety and hunger), the following analyses were carried out: 1) a 5 (Time point: T1, T2, T3, T4 vs. T5) \u0026times; 3 (Group: MB-Eat, Control vs. Distraction groups) repeated measures ANOVA was conducted for all three intermediate variables (state negative emotion, state satiety and hunger ratings) during the whole experiment task; 2) a one-way ANOVA was performed on the means and changes of the three intermediate variables in the stages of mindful breathing and mindful eating to determine the relationship between the group and the intermediate variables. 3)Subsequently, a correlation analysis was conducted to examine the relationships between the intermediate variables and the amount of food intake, as well as between the pretest variables and the amount of food intake.4) Based on the results of these analyses, a parallel mediation model was constructed. Pretest variables that showed a significant correlation with the amount of food intake were included as control variables in the model.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"3. Results","content":"\u003cdiv id=\"Sec10\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e3.1 Participants\u0026rsquo; characteristics\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere were no statistically significant differences between the three groups in any variables except age at the baseline of the experiment. The mean age of the MB-Eat group was 20.30 years (SD\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.88), the Control group was 21.05 years (SD\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1.09), and the Distraction group was 20.88 years (SD\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.94). Their characteristics were presented in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab1\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e1\u003c/span\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab1\" border=\"1\"\u003e\u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 1\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eParticipant characteristics and demographics.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/caption\u003e\u003ccolgroup cols=\"5\"\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMB-Eat group\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e(\u003cem\u003en\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;40)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eControl group\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e(\u003cem\u003en\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;41)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDistraction group\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e(\u003cem\u003en\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;40)\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/thead\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eBMI\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e20.96\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.22\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e20.76\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.74\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e20.30\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.28\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.77\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAge\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e20.30\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.88\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e21.05\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.09\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e20.88\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.94\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e6.48**\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eFFMQ\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eObserving\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e25.23\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;4.44\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e25.46\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;3.99\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e24.87\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;4.99\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.18\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDescribing\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e24.88\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;4.26\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e25.88\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;4.56\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e26.25\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;4.65\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.00\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eActing with Awareness\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e27.72\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;5.09\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e27.46\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;5.30\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e26.58\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;5.83\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.50\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eNon-judging\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e23.42\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;3.99\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e24.83\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;3.92\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e24.62\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;4.12\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.44\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eNon-reacting\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e18.90\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.78\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e19.37\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.73\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e19.88\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;2.52\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.32\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eTotal\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e120.15\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;9.43\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e123.00\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;10.17\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e122.2\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;11.6\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.80\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDEBQ-EM\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e36.30\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;8.13\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e36.20\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;9.29\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e36.10\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;9.52\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.01\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tbody\u003e\u003c/colgroup\u003e\u003ctfoot\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"5\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eNote.\u003c/em\u003e BMI\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Body Mass Index; FFMQ\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire; DEBQ-EM\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire-Emotional Eating sub-scale;MB-Eat group\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;Mindful Breathing and Eating group\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"5\"\u003e*\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.05\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tfoot\u003e\u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec11\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e3.2 Manipulation checking\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003ePaired sample \u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e-tests were conducted on the negative emotional states and internal states pre- and post- autobiographical memory tasks, namely at T1 and T2. Results shew significant increase in each negative emotions from T1 to T2 (Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab2\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e2\u003c/span\u003e), indicating that this task successfully induced negative emotions. State satiety and hunger ratings did not significantly change after autobiographical memory tasks.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab2\" border=\"1\"\u003e\u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 2\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\u003cp\u003ePaired samples \u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e-test for negative emotion inducing\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/caption\u003e\u003ccolgroup cols=\"4\"\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"char\" char=\".\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eT1\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eT2\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003et\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/thead\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eNegative emotions\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.06\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.93\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3.67\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.26\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e13.35***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eSad\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.90\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.17\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3.93\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.64\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e12.28***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDepression\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.05\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.25\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4.03\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.67\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e12.20***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnger\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.31\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.67\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.50\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.63\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e8.27***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnxiety\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.98\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.45\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4.22\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.50\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e8.08***\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eHunger\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3.79\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.11\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3.88\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.09\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.78\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eSatiety\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4.10\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.19\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\"\u0026plusmn;\" colname=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3.77\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.39\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"char\" char=\".\" colname=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.88\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tbody\u003e\u003c/colgroup\u003e\u003ctfoot\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"4\"\u003eNote. Negative emotions = (Sad\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;Depression\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;Anger\u0026thinsp;+\u0026thinsp;Anxiety) / 4\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd colspan=\"4\"\u003e***\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tfoot\u003e\u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSince there are participants with BMIs greater than 24 and 28, correlation analyses were then conduct between BMIs and six specific negative emotions at T1 and T2. No significant correlation was found.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec12\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e3.3 The effects of intervention on calorie intake\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne-way ANOVA showed a significant difference in total calorie intake among the three groups, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2, 118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;21.35, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001. Post hoc analysis showed that the total calorie intake among MB-Eat group (50.73\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;22.02) was significantly lower than those among the Control group (89.29\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;47.02, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001) and the Distraction group (114.69\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;55.94, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001), and the Control group was significantly lower than the Distraction group (\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.01). Further analysis of the differences in the calorie intake of healthy and unhealthy foods among the groups, using a 2 (food type: healthy vs. unhealthy food) \u0026times; 3 (group: MB-Eat, Control, vs. Distraction group) ANOVA, showed that the main effect of food type, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2,118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;147.57, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001, and group, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2,118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;21.35, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001, was significant. In addition, the interaction of food type \u0026times; group was significant, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2,118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;11.71, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001. Simple effect analysis showed that in the calorie intake of unhealthy foods, the MB-Eat group (35.02\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;16.67) took significantly less unhealthy food than the Control group (67.22\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;44.07, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.001) and the Distraction group (86.85\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;48.06, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001) did. Moreover, in healthy food intake, the Distraction group (27.84\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;15.40) ate significant more healthy food than the mindfulness intervention group did (15.71\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;9.96, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001). The data indicated that individuals in the MB-Eat group consumed fewer total calories, with decreases seen in both healthy and unhealthy food intake.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec13\" class=\"Section2\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e3.4 Potential psychological mechanisms underlying mindfulness intervention in reducing emotional eating\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec14\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e3.4.1 Negative emotion alleviation\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eA 5 (Time: T1-T5) \u0026times; 3 (Group: MB-Eat, Control, vs. Distraction groups) repeated measurement analysis of variance was conducted to investigate negative emotions change during the whole experiment (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003ea). The results showed a significant main effect of Time, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2, 118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;93.40, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001, which was yielded by a significant time \u0026times; group interaction, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2, 118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;3.94, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.005. and the main effect of the group was not significant, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2, 118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.31, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.74. Simple effects analysis revealed that in the MB-Eat group, negative emotion scores differed significantly across time points, except between T1 and T3 (\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;0.05). Specifically, negative emotion at T3 (end of mindful breathing stage, 2.26\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.86) was significantly lower than at T2 (before mindful breathing, 3.83\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.15; p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001). Furthermore, negative emotion further decreased at T4 (end of mindful eating, 1.72\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.55), showing a significant reduction compared to T3 (\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001\u003cem\u003e).\u003c/em\u003e In the Control group, negative emotion scores differed significantly across time points (all p\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001), except between T1 and T4 (\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;0.05). Specifically, negative emotion at T3 (end of experiment introduction, 2.58\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.00) was significantly lower than at T2 (before experiment introduction, 3.49\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.36; \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001). A further reduction was observed at T4 (end of eating, 2.13\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.93), which was significantly lower than at T3 (\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001). In the Distraction group, negative emotion scores showed significant differences across all time points (all \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001), with the exception of no significant change between T1 and T4 (\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;0.05). Specifically, negative emotion decreased significantly from T2 (before experiment introduction, 3.71\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.26) to T3 (end of experiment introduction, 2.64\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.15; \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001). This downward trend continued, with scores at T4 (end of eating with film, 1.85\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.91) being significantly lower than at T3 (\u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe results demonstrated a significant reduction in negative emotions from T2 to T3 across all three groups. To specifically evaluate the efficacy of mindful breathing in alleviating negative emotions, a one-way ANOVA comparing the three groups\u0026rsquo; emotional changes during this interval was carried out (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003ec). The analysis revealed significant between-group differences in T2-T3 negative emotion reduction, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2, 118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;4.75, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.01. Post hoc comparisons showed that the MB-Eat group exhibited significantly greater reduction (1.57\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.08) than both the Control group (0.91\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.95, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.004) and the Distraction group (1.08\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.97, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.029). Furthermore, to assess whether the effects of mindful breathing persisted during the subsequent \u003cem\u003ead libitum\u003c/em\u003e task, another one-way ANOVA on negative emotion changes from T4 to T5 was conducted. Results showed no significant differences between three groups, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2, 118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;2.20, p\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.115, suggesting that the initial benefits of mindful breathing did not extend to this later experimental phase. These findings demonstrated that mindful breathing produces significantly greater immediate reductions in negative emotions compared to both Control and Distraction conditions, highlighting its potent short-term emotion-regulation benefits, thereby supporting our hypothesis.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn order to examine whether mindful eating contributed to further reduction of negative emotions, a one-way ANOVA comparing the three groups\u0026rsquo; emotional changes from T3 to T4 was conducted. The analysis revealed no significant between-group differences in negative emotion reduction during this phase, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2, 118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;2.72, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.017, indicating that mindful eating did not produce additional emotion-regulation benefits beyond those achieved in previous stages.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec15\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e3.4.2 Satiety\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eA 5 (Time: T1-T5) \u0026times; 3 (Group: MB-Eat, Control, vs. Distraction group) repeated measurement analysis of variance was conducted to examine changes in satiety during the whole experiment (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003ed). Results showed a significant main effect of Time, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2, 118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;5.08, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.001, and Group, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2, 118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;6.36, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.002, as well as a significant Time \u0026times; Group interaction, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2, 118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;3.81, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.006. Simple effect analysis showed that while the MB-Eat group maintained stable satiety levels across all timepoints (all \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003es\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;.05), the Control group exhibited a significant decrease from T1 (beginning of autobiographical memory task, 4.05\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.16) to T5 (end of \u003cem\u003ead libitum\u003c/em\u003e task: 3.29\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.25; \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.02). Similarly, the Distraction group showed significantly higher satiety at T1 (4.05\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.22) compared to both T4 (3.28\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.30, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.002) and T5 (3.05\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.38, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.001). Between-group comparisons showed that the MB-Eat group reported greater satiety than the Distraction group at T3 (4.25\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.37 vs. 3.65\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.92, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.041) and T4 (4.13\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.62 vs. 3.28\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.30, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.019), and significantly higher satiety than both Control and Distraction groups at T5 (4.40\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.23 vs. 3.29\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.25 and 3.05\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.38, respectively; both \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003es\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;.001).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe above results demonstrate that while satiety levels in the MB-Eat group showed some fluctuation, they remained consistently high without significant changes throughout the experiment (all \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003es\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;.05, Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003ee). Notably, from T3 onward, MB-Eat group maintained significantly higher satiety compared to both Control and Distraction groups. To specifically examine the effect of mindfulness-based eating on satiety, a one-way ANOVA comparing satiety scores during the T3-T4 was conducted. Results revealed significant between-group differences, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2, 118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;6.38, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.002, with the MB-Eat group (4.19\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.15) showing significantly higher satiety than the Control (3.61\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.15, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.008) and Distraction groups (3.46\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.15, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.001). These findings support our hypothesis that mindfulness-based eating promotes sustained satiety awareness.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e To examine whether mindful breathing contributed to higher satiety levels among participants, a one-way ANOVA was conducted on the T2-T3 satiety scores across the three groups. The analysis revealed no significant difference, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2, 118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;2.25, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.11, indicating that mindful breathing did not significantly enhance satiety during this stage. Additionally, to determine whether the effects of mindful eating extended into the \u003cem\u003ead libitum\u003c/em\u003e task, another one-way ANOVA was performed on the T4-T5 satiety scores. This analysis showed a significant difference among the groups, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2, 118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;10.49, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001, suggesting that the mindful eating intervention had a lasting impact on satiety during the \u003cem\u003ead libitum\u003c/em\u003e phase.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv id=\"Sec16\" class=\"Section3\"\u003e\u003ch2\u003e3.4.3 Hunger\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo examine changes in hunger levels throughout the experiment, a 5 (Time: T1-T5) \u0026times; 3 (Group: MB-Eat, Control, vs. Distraction groups) repeated-measures ANOVA was conducted (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig4\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e4\u003c/span\u003eb). Results revealed a significant main effect of time, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2,118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;20.36, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001. Post-hoc analyses demonstrated that all groups showed increased hunger at T5 compared to earlier time points: the MB-Eat group's T5 hunger (4.55\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.93) was significantly higher than at T1 (3.80\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.18, p\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.001) and T3 (3.63\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.15, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.004). The main effect of group was not significant, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2,118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.046, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.955. Importantly, a significant Time \u0026times; Group interaction was observed, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2,118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;2.61, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.039. The Control group showed higher T5 hunger (4.49\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.05) versus T1 (3.90\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.11, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.021) and T2 (3.93\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.96, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.042); while the Distraction group exhibited the most pronounced increases, with T5 hunger (4.88\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.97) significantly exceeding all previous measurements (T1: 3.68\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.05; T2: 3.65\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.15; T3: 3.82\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;1.19; T4: 4.07\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.94; all \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003es\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.001 except T3 \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.001).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePrior to the \u003cem\u003ead libitum\u003c/em\u003e task, hunger levels showed no significant variations across time points or between groups (all \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003es\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;0.05). We then analyzed the relationship between hunger and energy intake by calculating both change scores during the T2-T3 and T3-T4 intervals. Correlation analyses revealed that total energy intake was significantly associated with hunger changes in both time windows: negatively during T2-T3, \u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e = -0.33, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01) and positively during T3-T4, \u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.28, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01) (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig5\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e5\u003c/span\u003ea). However, one-way ANOVAs demonstrated no significant group differences in hunger change scores for either T2-T3, F (2,118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1.32, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.27, or T3-T4, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2,118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.65, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.53.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e3.5 Construct a parallel mediation model with group as the independent variable and Total calories intake as the dependent variable.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo construct the parallel mediation model examining how group assignment (independent variable) influenced total calorie intake (dependent variable) through potential mediators, we established measurement timeframes based on intervention dynamics: (1)Negative emotions: Change score during T2-T3 (selected due to significant group differences, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2, 118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;4.75, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.01. ). (2)Satiety: Mean ratings during T3-T4 (selected due to significant group differences, \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e (2, 118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;6.38, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.002). (3)Hunger was excluded as a candidate mediator because repeated-measures ANOVA confirmed nonsignificant group differences during critical phases (T2-T3: \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2,118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1.32, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.27; T3-T4: \u003cem\u003eF\u003c/em\u003e(2,118)\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.65, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.53). Subsequent correlation analyses revealed that the change in negative emotions during the T2-T3 stage significantly correlated with total calorie intake (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e = -0.254, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01), indicating that changes in negative emotions were related to energy intake. Additionally, no significant relationship was found between mean satiety during the T3-T4 stage and total calorie intake (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e = -0.143, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026gt;\u0026thinsp;.05). These findings provided a basis for including negative emotions as a mediator in the model. Furthermore, the Acting with Awareness dimension of the FFMQ scale showed significant correlations with both total calorie intake (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e = -0.28, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01) and satiety during the T3-T4 stage (\u003cem\u003er\u003c/em\u003e = -0.45, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;\u0026lt;\u0026thinsp;0.01). Given these significant relationships, Acting with Awareness was included as a covariate in the mediation model to control for its effects on both energy intake and satiety.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBased on these findings, a parallel mediation analysis using path analysis was conducted in Mplus to examine the mechanisms through which mindfulness intervention influences total calorie intake. The model included group assignment (MB-Eat, Control vs. Distraction groups) as the independent variable, total calorie intake as the dependent variable, and two parallel mediators: (1) changes in negative emotion during the mindful breathing phase (T2-T3) and (2) changes in satiety during the mindful eating phase (T3-T4). The path analysis revealed that satiety changes, but not hunger changes, were ultimately selected for the final model based on model fit indices. Acting with Awareness, which showed significant correlations with both total calorie intake and satiety, was included as a covariate to control for its effects on these variables.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eResults revealed three key findings: First, the model demonstrated excellent fit (\u003cem\u003eχ\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = 0.89, \u003cem\u003edf\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;2, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.64; \u003cem\u003eCFI\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;1.00; \u003cem\u003eRMSEA\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.00; \u003cem\u003eSRMR\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.02), accounting for 9.45% of emotional eating variance (\u003cem\u003eR\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = 0.095). Second, the intervention exerted a significant direct effect on emotional eating reduction (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e = -0.22, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.01, \u003cem\u003ef\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = 0.047). Third, path analyses indicated: (a) a significant indirect effect through negative emotions (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e = -0.16, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.02, \u003cem\u003eκ\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = 0.024; accounting for 17.83% of total effect), and (b) a marginal indirect effect via satiety (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e = -0.15, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.06, \u003cem\u003eκ\u0026sup2;\u003c/em\u003e = 0.023; accounting for 20.95% of total effect). The satiety pathway's marginal significance (p\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.06) suggests its substantive contribution despite not reaching conventional thresholds. Collectively, mindfulness reduces emotional eating through direct effects and dual mediation pathways (Fig.\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Fig6\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e6\u003c/span\u003e-Model 1; full coefficients in Table\u0026nbsp;\u003cspan refid=\"Tab3\" class=\"InternalRef\"\u003e3\u003c/span\u003e).\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"gridtable\"\u003e\u003ctable float=\"Yes\" id=\"Tab3\" border=\"1\"\u003e\u003ccaption language=\"En\"\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionNumber\"\u003eTable 3\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv class=\"CaptionContent\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eParallel Mediation Model of Group on Total Calorie Intake via Negative Emotion reduction (T2-T3) and Mean Satiety (T3-T4).\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/caption\u003e\u003ccolgroup cols=\"13\"\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c1\" colnum=\"1\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c2\" colnum=\"2\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c3\" colnum=\"3\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c4\" colnum=\"4\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c5\" colnum=\"5\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c6\" colnum=\"6\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c7\" colnum=\"7\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c8\" colnum=\"8\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c9\" colnum=\"9\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c10\" colnum=\"10\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c11\" colnum=\"11\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c12\" colnum=\"12\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cdiv align=\"left\" class=\"colspec\" colname=\"c13\" colnum=\"13\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eS.E.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c11\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBootLLCL\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003cth align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c12\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBootULCL\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/th\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/thead\u003e\u003ctbody\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"13\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eDirect effect\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMB-Eat \u0026mdash; Total calories\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-23.52\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e9.33\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-42.72\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-5.87\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMB-Eat \u0026mdash; \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{\\varDelta\\:\\text{N}\\text{E}}_{\\text{T}2-\\text{T}3}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.66\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.23\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.21\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.09\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMB-Eat \u0026mdash;\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{\\text{M}\\text{e}\\text{a}\\text{n}\\:\\text{s}\\text{a}\\text{t}\\text{i}\\text{e}\\text{t}\\text{y}}_{\\text{T}3-\\text{T}4}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.77\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.19\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.38\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.14\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDistraction \u0026mdash; Total calories\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e26.49\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e10.91\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e5.64\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e48.94\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDistraction\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{\\:\u0026mdash;\\varDelta\\:\\text{N}\\text{E}}_{\\text{T}2-\\text{T}3}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.17\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.21\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.27\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.57\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDistraction \u0026mdash; \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{\\text{M}\\text{e}\\text{a}\\text{n}\\:\\text{s}\\text{a}\\text{t}\\text{i}\\text{e}\\text{t}\\text{y}}_{\\text{T}3-\\text{T}4}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.11\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.15\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.41\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.18\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{\\varDelta\\:\\text{N}\\text{E}}_{\\text{T}2-\\text{T}3}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003eTotal calories\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-7.72\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3.36\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-14.30\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-1.24\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{\\text{M}\\text{e}\\text{a}\\text{n}\\:\\text{S}\\text{a}\\text{t}\\text{i}\\text{e}\\text{t}\\text{y}}_{\\text{T}3-\\text{T}4}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u0026mdash; Total calories\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-7.77\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4.26\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-16.35\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.25\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eActing with awareness \u0026mdash; Total calories\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-2.78\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.94\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-4.63\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.95\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c2\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eActing with awareness \u0026mdash; \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{\\text{M}\\text{e}\\text{a}\\text{n}\\:\\text{S}\\text{a}\\text{t}\\text{i}\\text{e}\\text{t}\\text{y}}_{\\text{T}3-\\text{T}4}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c5\" namest=\"c3\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.10\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c8\" namest=\"c6\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.02\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c12\" namest=\"c9\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.13\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c13\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.07\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"13\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eIndirect effects\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMB-Eat \u0026mdash;\u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{\\varDelta\\:\\text{N}\\text{E}}_{\\text{T}2-\\text{T}3}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e \u0026mdash;Total calories\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-5.10\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3.01\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c10\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-12.94\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c11\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.90\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMB-Eat \u0026mdash; \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{\\text{M}\\text{e}\\text{a}\\text{n}\\:\\text{s}\\text{a}\\text{t}\\text{i}\\text{e}\\text{t}\\text{y}}_{\\text{T}3-\\text{T}4}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e \u0026mdash;Total calories\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-5.99\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e3.47\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c10\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-14.33\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c11\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.08\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDistraction \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{\\:\u0026mdash;\\varDelta\\:\\text{N}\\text{E}}_{\\text{T}2-\\text{T}3}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e \u0026mdash;Total calories\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-1.29\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.83\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c10\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-6.05\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c11\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.66\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDistraction \u0026mdash; \u003cspan class=\"InlineEquation\"\u003e\u003cspan class=\"mathinline\"\u003e\\(\\:{\\text{M}\\text{e}\\text{a}\\text{n}\\:\\text{s}\\text{a}\\text{t}\\text{i}\\text{e}\\text{t}\\text{y}}_{\\text{T}3-\\text{T}4}\\)\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u0026mdash; Total calories\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e0.89\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e1.59\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c10\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.91\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c11\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e6.16\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"13\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTotal indirect effects\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMB-Eat\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-11.09\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4.41\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c10\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-20.07\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c11\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-2.68\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDistraction\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c4\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-0.40\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c7\" namest=\"c5\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e2.28\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c10\" namest=\"c8\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-4.68\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c11\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e4.76\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"13\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTotal effects\u003c/b\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eMB-Eat\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c3\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-34.61\u003c/p\u003e \u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c6\" namest=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e8.34\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c9\" namest=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-49.82\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c10\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e-16.80\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colname=\"c1\"\u003e\u003cp\u003eDistraction\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"2\" nameend=\"c3\" namest=\"c2\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e26.34\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c6\" namest=\"c4\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e11.18\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"3\" nameend=\"c9\" namest=\"c7\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e5.05\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003ctd align=\"left\" colspan=\"4\" nameend=\"c13\" namest=\"c10\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e48.98\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/td\u003e\u003c/tr\u003e\u003c/tbody\u003e\u003c/colgroup\u003e\u003c/table\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003c/div\u003e"},{"header":"4. Discussion","content":"\u003cp\u003eThe current study demonstrated that brief, single-session mindfulness practices\u0026mdash;combining mindful breathing and eating\u0026mdash;significantly reduce caloric intake during emotional eating episodes induced by negative affect. While prior research predominantly examined multi-session interventions for general dietary change (e.g., Katterman et al., 2014; Warren et al., \u003cspan citationid=\"CR50\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2017\u003c/span\u003e), our findings reveal the immediate effects of abbreviated techniques in attenuating food consumption. This suggests such accessible, low-intensity tools offer viable \"just-in-time\" coping strategies for acute emotional eating without requiring extensive training, highlighting their potential clinical utility during states of emotional distress.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur findings elucidate the psychological mechanism underlying brief mindfulness breathing\u0026rsquo;s efficacy. This intervention produced significantly greater reductions in negative affect compared to both control and distraction groups, with this emotional regulation mediating subsequent food intake. Specifically, greater negative emotion reduction predicted lower energy consumption, aligning with Gibson\u0026rsquo;s (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR56\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2012\u003c/span\u003e) model positing energy-dense food consumption as maladaptive coping strategy for negative emotions. This extends prior work (Beblo et al.\u0026rsquo;s, 2017) by demonstrating that brief mindfulness disrupts the emotion-eating cycle. These behavioral effects may reflect neuroadaptive changes in reward processing:Neurobiological evidence suggests mindfulness may attenuate high-calorie food reward sensitivity via dopamine modulation (Bello \u0026amp; Hajnal, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR57\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e). Crucially, mindful breathing targets both emotional triggers and behavioral responses, providing a mechanistic basis for clinical application.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMindful eating significantly enhanced satiety perception during the intervention, with the mindfulness group demonstrating progressively greater awareness compared to both control groups. This extends foundational MB-EAT principles (Kristeller \u0026amp; Hallett, \u003cspan citationid=\"CR25\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e1999\u003c/span\u003e) by establishing the single-exposure efficacy of mindful eating for enhancing interoceptive awareness. Parallel mediation analyses indicated that heightened satiety awareness marginally mediated emotional eating reduction (indirect effect\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;20.95% of total; p\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.06), consistent with Rolls et al.\u0026rsquo;s (\u003cspan citationid=\"CR63\" class=\"CitationRef\"\u003e2008\u003c/span\u003e) sensory-specific satiety framework whereby earlier satiety recognition reduces overconsumption. These exploratory findings suggest satiety awareness may function as a rapidly modifiable mechanism\u0026mdash;with potential clinical relevance for interrupting emotion-driven eating cycles. Future research should examine neurocognitive substrates, particularly homeostatic-hedonic system interactions.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn contrast to the marginally significant mediation through satiety awareness, hunger perception did not significantly mediate the intervention's effects on emotional eating (β = -0.15, p\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;0.06). This aligns with prior mindfulness studies showing limited modulation of hunger (Marchiori et al., 2013). Theoretically, this suggests mindfulness primarily enhances interoceptive awareness and top-down behavioral control rather than altering fundamental hunger physiology governed by robust biological pathways (e.g., glucose homeostasis, ghrelin-leptin signaling; Cummings \u0026amp; Overduin, 2007). Notably, mindfulness reduced emotional eating without perturbing hunger homeostasis\u0026mdash;a clinically valuable dissociation supporting its safety profile for populations with hunger dysregulation (e.g., eating disorders)., brief psychosocial interventions likely lack potency to override these entrenched mechanisms.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo account for individual differences in baseline mindfulness capacity, we covaried for the trait \u0026ldquo;Acting with Awareness\u0026rdquo;. This methodological rigor ensures observed effects reflect intervention efficacy rather than preexisting characteristics, strengthening causal inference. Future mindfulness research should systematically measure and control for such baseline traits to enhance validity.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHowever, unexpected findings warrant discussion. First, we observed no preference for healthier foods in the mindfulness group during \u003cem\u003ead libitum\u003c/em\u003e intake. This absence may reflect the long-term nature of dietary preference or habit, which is unlikely to be altered by brief interventions\u0026mdash;and methodological constraints: our primary focus on energy intake (rather than food-type analysis) obscures selection patterns given differential energy density across foods. Additionally, only satiety significantly mediated intervention effects, with no observed hunger mediation, which may suggest the intervention\u0026rsquo;s brevity may have limited engagement with hunger-regulation mechanisms. Future studies should test whether extended practice enhances integration of both hunger and satiety cues.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"5. Conclusion","content":"\u003cp\u003eBrief mindfulness intervention integrating mindful breathing and mindful eating effectively reduces negative emotion-induced caloric intake in young women. The psychological mechanism primarily involves significant alleviation of negative emotions through mindful breathing (mediating 17.83% of total effect, \u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e = -0.16, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.02), with a noteworthy contribution from enhanced satiety sensitivity through mindful eating\u0026mdash;marginally significant (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e = -0.15, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e\u0026thinsp;=\u0026thinsp;.06) yet accounting for 20.95% of total effect\u0026mdash;both pathways observed after controlling for trait \u0026ldquo;Acting with Awareness\u0026rdquo;. This dual-process modulation collectively reduces emotional eating.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"Declarations","content":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ch2\u003eDeclaration of competing interest\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.\u003c/p\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAuthor Contribution\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eXiaoxuan Ren: Conceptualization, Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing \u0026ndash; original draft, Visualization,Writing \u0026ndash; review \u0026amp; editing;Wanjun Huang: Writing \u0026ndash; review \u0026amp; editing，Methodology，Investigation，Data curation，Conceptualization；Hong Yuan： Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision,Writing \u0026ndash; review \u0026amp; editing;Xiao Gao : Project administration, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization, Resources, Methodology, Supervision, Writing \u0026ndash; review \u0026amp; editing.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eAcknowledgment\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis study received funding from a national science foundation and university research grants.\u003c/p\u003e\u003ch2\u003eData Availability\u003c/h2\u003e\u003cp\u003eAll data used in this study are publicly available. To assess the data, please contact the corresponding author.\u003c/p\u003e"},{"header":"References","content":"\u003col\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAlberts, H. J. E. M., Thewissen, R., \u0026amp; Raes, L. J. A. (2012). Dealing with problematic eating behaviour. The effects of a mindfulness-based intervention on eating behaviour, food cravings, dichotomous thinking and body image concern. \u003cem\u003e58\u003c/em\u003e(3), 847\u0026ndash;851.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAhlich, E., \u0026amp; Rancourt, D. (2022). Boredom Proneness, Interoception, and Emotional Eating. Appetite, 178, Article ID: 106167.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAmerican Psychological Association. (2014). \u003cem\u003eStress in America: Are teens adopting adults\u0026rsquo; stress habits?\u003c/em\u003e Retrieved from.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003cli\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAnnesi, J. J., \u0026amp; Mareno, N. (2015). 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Glucomannan as dietary fiber: Effect on short-term satiety and food intake. \u003cem\u003eEuropean Journal of Clinical Nutrition\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003e62\u003c/em\u003e(1), 58\u0026ndash;65.\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\u003c/ol\u003e"}],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":true,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":false,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":false,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"emotional eating, negative emotion, mindfulness, mindful eating, brief","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7345155/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-7345155/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eEmotional eating, characterized by dysregulated food intake in response to negative emotions, represents a significant public health concern with potential progression to severe eating disorders. Given its public health implications, there is a critical need for effective early interventions. Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training (MB-EAT) has emerged as a promising approach by enhancing self-regulation through increased awareness of hunger, satiety, and negative emotions. The current study examined the effectiveness of a brief mindfulness intervention in mitigating emotional eating among female undergraduate students (\u003cem\u003eN\u003c/em\u003e = 127). Participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: mindfulness intervention, distraction, or control group. Following negative emotion induction via autobiographical recall, participants engaged in different eating scenarios. The mindfulness group practiced brief mindful breathing and mindful eating of 5 mini-Oreo cookies, while other groups followed standard consumption protocols of the same food. After that participants were provided with snacks through an \u003cem\u003ead libitum\u003c/em\u003e task, and calories intake were calculated. Results indicated that, after controlling for trait Acting with Awareness, the brief mindfulness intervention significantly reduced calorie intake compared to other two groups. Mediation analyses demonstrated a significant indirect effect through reduced negative emotions (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e= -0.16, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = 0.02), and a marginal indirect effect via enhanced satiety sensitivity (\u003cem\u003eβ\u003c/em\u003e = -0.15, \u003cem\u003ep\u003c/em\u003e = 0.06). These findings suggest mindfulness as a \"just-in-time\" tool to resist emotional eating.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Brief Mindfulness Reduces Emotional Eating Via the Alleviation of Negative Emotions","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-09-02 06:52:57","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-7345155/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"34397cd8-7990-4c18-a142-b0a089e1694a","owner":[],"postedDate":"September 2nd, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-05T07:55:59+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-09-02 06:52:57","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-7345155","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-7345155","identity":"rs-7345155","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}