RESULTS Our findings suggest that consumers have a relatively poor underst and ing of a healthy diet .
The literature also demonstrates that there is poor evidence on the health protective effects of single foods or nutrients .
We further show that low SES is the single consistent risk factor for not adhering to a healthy diet .
Our review of the literature on determinants demonstrates that intentions , habits , self-regulatory skills , and the social and physical environment are the most important determinants of a healthy diet , which are in turn amenable to change by intervention strategies with varying levels of effectiveness .
Educational interventions generally show a limited effect on practising a healthy diet whereas interventions targeting habitual behaviour and /or the physical environment seem more promising .
In view of the large number of people who are concerned about their diets and make attempts to change their dietary patterns , we conclude that it is crucial to gain a better underst and ing of both the automatic and environmental influences that are responsible for people not acting upon their good intentions for diet change
OBJECTIVE To discuss healthy diet from a psychological perspective by considering definitions of healthy diet in terms of consumer underst and ing ; the health effects of specific dietary elements in terms of overweight and ( chronic ) illness ; the prevalence of healthy diet ; the psychological and environmental determinants of healthy diet ; and the psychological interventions that have been design ed to promote healthy diet .
Hunger is the best spice: An fMRI study of the effects of attention, hunger and calorie content on food reward processing in the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex
Research indicates that dysfunctional food reward processing may contribute to pathological eating behaviour . It is widely recognized that both the amygdala and the orbitofrontal cortex ( OFC ) are essential parts of the brain 's reward circuitry . The aims of this fMRI study were ( 1 ) to examine the effects of food deprivation and calorie content on reward processing in the amygdala and the OFC , and ( 2 ) to examine whether an explicit evaluation of foods is necessary for OFC , but not amygdalar activity . Addressing the first aim , healthy females were presented with high and low calorie food pictures while being either hungry or satiated . For the second aim , attention focus was manipulated by directing participants ' attention either to the food or to a neutral aspect . This study shows that hunger interacts with the energy content of foods , modulating activity in the posterior cingulate cortex , medial OFC , insula , cau date putamen and fusiform gyrus . Results show that satiated healthy females show an increased reward processing in response to low calorie foods . Confirming our hypothesis , food deprivation increased activity following the presentation of high calorie foods , which may explain why treatments of obesity energy restricting diets often are unsuccessful . Interestingly , activity in both the amygdala and mOFC was only evident when participants explicitly evaluated foods . However , attention independent activity was found in the mPFC following the high calorie foods cues when participants where hungry . Current findings indicate that research on how attention modulates food reward processing might prove especially insightful in the study of the neural substrates of healthy and pathological eating behaviour
RESULTS Our findings suggest that consumers have a relatively poor underst and ing of a healthy diet .
The literature also demonstrates that there is poor evidence on the health protective effects of single foods or nutrients .
We further show that low SES is the single consistent risk factor for not adhering to a healthy diet .
Our review of the literature on determinants demonstrates that intentions , habits , self-regulatory skills , and the social and physical environment are the most important determinants of a healthy diet , which are in turn amenable to change by intervention strategies with varying levels of effectiveness .
Educational interventions generally show a limited effect on practising a healthy diet whereas interventions targeting habitual behaviour and /or the physical environment seem more promising .
In view of the large number of people who are concerned about their diets and make attempts to change their dietary patterns , we conclude that it is crucial to gain a better underst and ing of both the automatic and environmental influences that are responsible for people not acting upon their good intentions for diet change
OBJECTIVE To discuss healthy diet from a psychological perspective by considering definitions of healthy diet in terms of consumer underst and ing ; the health effects of specific dietary elements in terms of overweight and ( chronic ) illness ; the prevalence of healthy diet ; the psychological and environmental determinants of healthy diet ; and the psychological interventions that have been design ed to promote healthy diet .