Verbal And Pictorial Measures Of Hunger - Brief Article

Nutrition Research Newsletter,  Jan, 2001  

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Hunger is a complex psychobiological experience. The experience of hunger has both cognitive and physical components. Dictionary definitions of hunger refer to it both as a state of mind and as a state of the body. It has been suggested that individuals frequently fail to distinguish between the physical need for food and the desire to eat due to factors other than biological need. A recent study conducted by Friedman et al. proposed that the physical aspects of hunger might be distinguishable from more global hunger assessments by using a pictorial measure of hunger sensations. The purpose of this current study, recently published by Lowe et al., was to reexamine the verbal and pictorial hunger measures, both individually and in relation to one another, during a 22-hour fast in a larger sample of participants. The study investigated potential differences between weight groups, using the new hunger measure.

A total of 46 obese and 29 normal-weight university students participated in the study. All obese participants had a body mass index (BMI) of [is greater than or equal to] 27. The average BMI was 35.6 in the obese group and 22.9 in the normal weight group. The mean age of the obese group was 47.9 years, and the mean age of the normal weight group was 26.1 years. All participants completed a hunger questionnaire consisting of 13 verbal items measuring hunger and hunger symptoms, as well as a drawing of a human figure used to indicate the area of the body in which they experienced sensations of hunger. To assess hunger level, questions were asked such as "How hungry do you feel right now?" The nine hunger symptoms included ailments such as stomach growling and headaches. Each participant received four questionnaires, enabling them to rate their hunger four times over the 22-hour food deprivation period. Fasting began at 6:00 pm after consuming a normal dinner, and continued until 4:00 pm the following day. The hunger questionnaire was to be completed at 10:00 pm, 8:00 am, 12:00 pm, and 4:00 pm. To complete the pictorial measure, participants were asked to indicate the location and extent of their bodily hunger sensations by outlining corresponding areas on the figure drawing. The size of the area outlined reflected the intensity of their hunger sensations.

Both verbal and pictorial measures of hunger increased during the 22-hour fast in both normal weight and obese subjects. Nearly all indices of hunger changed in the appropriate direction in response to fasting, thereby supporting the validity of these instruments as measures of one aspect of the hunger experience. Regarding the novel pictorial measure, there were two notable findings. First, there were no correlations between the Peripheral and the Central Body area measures in either normal weight or obese subjects. Second, the pictorial measures, and the Central Body measure in particular, increased from the beginning to the end of the 22-hour fasting period more than the verbal hunger measures. Three findings suggested that the experience of hunger may have been different for normal weight and obese subjects. First, the number and magnitude of correlations between the three verbally based hunger measures was greater in normal weight than in obese subjects. Second, moderately obese individuals are much more likely than normal weight individuals to experience a significant proportion of their hunger sensations in peripheral areas of the body. Third, hunger symptom measures correlated more often with the verbal and pictorial measures in obese compared with normal weight subjects. According to the Total Body measure of hunger, obese individuals were somewhat less hungry at the beginning of the fast, but more hungry toward the end of the fast, as compared to normal weight subjects.

The experience of hunger is tied more closely to physical sensations in obese individuals than in normal weight individuals. In contrast, verbally based hunger measures seem to more adequately reflect the experience of hunger in normal weight individuals compared with obese individuals. The findings of this study are consistent with clinical reports of obese individuals who often claim that they are "always" hungry or thinking about food. A critical goal for future research is determining whether the pictorial hunger measure is able to account for variance in appetitive responses above and beyond that captured by traditional verbal measures of hunger.

M. Lowe, M. Friedman, R. Mattes, D. Kopyt, C. Gayda, Comparison of Verbal and Pictorial Measures of Hunger During Fasting in Normal Weight and Obese Subjects. Obes Res 8(8):566-574 (Nov 2000) [Correspondence: Michael R Lowe, Mail Stop 626, Dept of Clinical and Health Psychology, MCP Hahnemann University, Philadelphia, PA 10102. E-mail: lowe@drexel.edu].

COPYRIGHT 2001 Technical Insights, a divison of John Wiley & Sons.
COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group