De invloed van eetstijlen en inhibitiecontrole op gewichtsverlies bij mensen met morbide obesitas: een vooronderzoek

Abstract

Despite promising results after bariatric surgery, in ten to twenty percent of patients with morbid obesity weight loss is suboptimal or early weight regain occurs. It has been proven that preoperative weight loss has a positive influence on weight loss after the operation. Therefore, patients are encouraged to modify their eating habits and physical activity levels before surgery. However, losing weight is complex and multifactorial. Interindividual and intraindividual mechanisms may explain why some patients are able to lose weight while others are not. This pilot study examines the impact of eating styles and inhibitory control on weight loss in 15 patients admitted to surgery for morbid obesity. Emotional eating, external eating and dietary restraint, as measured by the Dutch Eating behaviour Questionnaire, were assessed in relation to weight change as measured by the Body Mass Index (BMI) before the operation controlling for the BMI at intake (about one month earlier). To examine the role of inhibitory control the participants were randomly assigned to two conditions: a go/no-go task in which no-go cues were presented using pictures of palatable foods and go cues using control pictures (experimental condition), or a go/no-go task in which no-go cues and go cues both were presented using control pictures (control condition). Contrary to expectation, there was no indication that restrained and external eating were associated with weight loss, and there was no evidence of an effect of the experimental manipulation on weight loss. The finding that individuals who did not describe themselves as emotional eaters gained more weight than individuals who did judge themselves as emotional eaters is remarkable. Possible explanations for this finding are discussed, including the possibility that it may be difficult to adequately assess one’s own emotional eating behaviour. Based on the current results, the efficiency of the intervention cannot be excluded, because the sample size of the study is too small, and further research is recommended. The finding that eating styles may play a different role than expected also provides opportunities for further research on eating styles in the morbidly obese.