Women may be more vulnerable to emotional overeating, study shows

Brain mapping reveals that different factors could be driving weight gain in men and women

Women could be more vulnerable to emotional and compulsive eating than men, new research indicates.

Women may be more susceptible to emotional eating than men, a study published in the Brain Communication journal suggests.

The study of 183 men and women revealed that there are brain signals associated with obesity that could be gender-specific, and that different factors could be driving weight gain in men and women.

The study was led by Arpana Gupta, an assistant professor and director of the Neuroimaging Core at the University of California, Los Angeles who specialises in research into how environmental and biological factors contribute to “stress-based diseases such as obesity”. She was awarded the Rome Foundation Research Award in 2019.

For the study, 78 women and men with a body mass index deemed overweight or obese, and 105 men and women with a lower BMI were selected. Body Mass Index is used as an indicator of body fat, and is calculated by multiplying a person's height by their weight.

After completing questionnaires on childhood trauma, anxiety and depression symptoms, food addiction, sensitivity to headaches and dizziness, and personality traits, participants each underwent three MRIs to examine the connectivity between areas of the brain, its structure and functionality.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a technique that uses a magnetic field and computer-generated radio waves to create detailed images of the body.

The results suggest a link between certain changes in brain connectivity and a higher BMI in both men and women.

In a statement, Ms Gupta said “we found differences in several of the brain’s networks associated with early life adversity, mental health quality and the way sensory stimulation is experienced.”

The study revealed that women with a high BMI showed changes in brain connectivity associated with greater anxiety and lower resilience, as compared to men in the same group. Ms Gupta said that some of these changes occur in regions of the brain that “respond to food or food-associated cues,” in association with early life trauma.

Further changes indicate that women with a high BMI may have difficulty “integrating emotions with action-directed goal planning,” Ms Gupta wrote, which could result in greater “emotional overeating” when compared to men.

This suggests that women could be more vulnerable to emotional and compulsive eating than men, and that this could be a strong driver for the development of obesity in women. In contrast, men’s eating behaviour seems to be influenced more by gut sensations than emotions.

The results suggest that a more individualistic treatment for obesity is required, which is tailored to each patient, and that when designing treatment protocols for women with a high BMI “it may be important to focus on emotional regulation techniques and vulnerability factors,” Ms Gupta said.

In exploring a possible correlation between adverse life events, gender, race and obesity, MsGupta is hoping to understand the link between gendered differences to stress, as well as eating disorders, and the effect of targeted interventions such as cognitive behavioural therapy, diet, lifestyle and increased exercise. This would help in the creation of personalised, tailored medical responses, versus the generalised approaches most commonly used now.

“The resulting brain signatures, based on multimodal MRI imaging, may help us more precisely tailor obesity interventions based on an individual’s sex.”

Personalised medicine is a relatively new movement but is quickly gaining credibility as scientists and medical practitioners begin to understand the complex relationship between diet, the gut biome and the health of the body.

One field of research, by Chris Palmer, has uncovered a link between the health of the mitochondria of cells — long seen as just the power plant for cells — and mental health, and possibly Alzheimer’s disease.