Study links loneliness and cravings in women

Researchers have revealed a connection between loneliness in women and brain activity linked to cravings for high-calorie foods. A new study has suggested that feelings of isolation may trigger responses in the brain that promote unhealthy eating patterns.

Previous beliefs have linked binge eating to emotional coping mechanisms, particularly for women. This new study provides a neurological basis for that connection, underlining that loneliness goes beyond emotional well-being and can demonstrably influence eating habits.

Researchers observed increased activity in brain regions associated with cravings and motivation to eat when women feeling lonely viewed images of calorie dense foods.

Conversely, brain activity in areas related to self-control over eating behaviours decreased among women who reported feeling lonely, found the study published in the medical journal JAMA. These women also reported poor mental health.

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“While it is established that obesity is linked to depression and anxiety and that binge-eating is understood to be a coping mechanism against loneliness, I wanted to observe the brain pathways associated with these feelings and behaviours,” the author of the paper, Arpana Gupta, told Down To Earth. Gupta is a PhD, a researcher and co-director of the University of California, Los Angeles Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center.

The study focused on women, as men and women have different brain patterns when it comes to obesity and also different coping mechanisms regarding loneliness, according to Gupta.

Women tend to gain more weight post dieting, have different eating patterns, show greater obesity-related complications and comorbidities and face more difficulties implementing weight loss treatments in the long term, according to her. “So it made sense to look at women first,” she added.

Gupta and her colleagues recruited 93 women for the study. They were quizzed about their support system and if they were lonely or socially isolated.

Based on the responses, the participants were separated into two groups: Those who scored high on the social isolation scale and those who scored low.

Women who reported facing higher levels of social isolation also tended to have higher fat mass, lower diet quality, greater cravings, reward-based eating, and uncontrolled eating, with increased levels of anxiety and depression.

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Next, the team deployed a scanning tool called magnetic resonance imaging to record images of the brain when the participants were shown pictures of food versus non-food, sweet food versus non-food and savoury food versus non-food.

Their analysis showed increased activation in regions of the brain associated with greater cravings to eat sugary foods among women who reported feeling lonely and lesser activity in the brain region associated with self-control.

“We were able to show that brain alterations may be a key link between social isolation and various outcomes, extending beyond eating behaviours and obesity to encompass mental health symptoms,” Gupta noted.

Social isolation, she highlighted, could cause food cravings similar to those for social connections.

The study presents evidence that our social bonds are key to how eating unhealthy foods, especially highly calorie-dense foods (sweets), impacts our cravings, mental wellbeing and overall quality of life, she added.

Gupta said her team is hoping to investigate if men’s brains also show activation in the same region of the brain as women in response to loneliness.

The team also plans to analyse other biological markers, such as inflammation and gut microbiome, and other outcomes, such as sleep. It then plans to develop intervention studies to mitigate the negative effects of these outcomes.