Hedonic Eating: How the Pleasure of Food Affects Our Brains and Behavior

by Nicole M. Avena

Overeating and obesity are on the rise. Despite public health warnings, availability of diet books and programs, and the stigma associated with obesity, many people find it difficult to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight. While there are many books on the topic of caloric or need-based eating, obesity and overeating can also result from eating that is not driven by hunger. Recent research found that excess food intake is largely driven by the palatability of food and the pleasure derived from eating.
Hedonic Eating: How the Pleasurable Aspects of Food Can Affect Appetite discusses the pleasurable aspects of food intake that may cause and perpetuate overconsumption. Broad in its scope, this book examines the various behavioral, biological, and social rewards of food. The comprehensive chapters cover topics ranging from the neurochemistry of food reward to the hotly debated concept of 'food addiction,' while providing relevant and up-to-date information from the current body of scientific literature regarding food reward.

221 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 12, 2015

About the author

Dr. Nicole Avena is an Associate Professor of Neuroscience at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, and a Visiting Professor of Health Psychology at Princeton University. She is a research neuroscientist and expert in the fields of nutrition, diet and addiction, with a special focus on nutrition during early life and pregnancy, and women’s health. She has done groundbreaking work developing models to characterize food addition and the dangers of excess sugar intake. Her research achievements have been honored by awards from several groups including the New York Academy of Sciences, the American Psychological Association, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. In addition to over 100 peer-reviewed scholarly publications, Dr. Avena has written several popular books, including Why Diets Fail: Because You’re Addicted to Sugar, What to Eat When You’re Pregnant, What to Feed Your Baby and Toddler and What to Eat When You Want to Get Pregnant. Her latest book, Sugarless, covers the latest science on sugar addiction and how to overcome it. It will be released in December, 2023, and it is available now for preorder. She frequently appears as a science expert in the media, including regular appearances on Good Day NY, The Doctors, and the former Dr. Oz Show as well as many news programs. Her work has been featured in Time Magazine, Bloomberg Business Week, The New York Times, and many other periodicals. Dr. Avena is a member of the Penguin Random House Speakers Bureau. She has the #2 most watched TED-ED Health talk, How Sugar Affects Your Brain, with over 17 million views and counting.
You can find her on social media @drnicoleavena IG, Facebook, LinkedIn

Reviews

[Alex Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book, I was still missing specific studies about hedonic eating only. I felt all the studies she mentioned or are mentioned in the papers are indirectly linked to hedonic eating, but probably because there are no studies, cause it’s a new topic.

[Ricardo Sanchez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Los cuestionamientos sobre la acción de comer.
Nuestras preferencias y hábitos al comer tienen mucho que ver con nuestro cerebro.
El circuito de recompensa revisado a través de diez capítulos. Analizando a detalle cómo se modifica nuestras redes neuronales, como se modifica incluso nuestro juicio en la elección de alimentos.
Una revisión del placer y de los alimentos modernos, del estrés y cómo este afecta la decisión de que comer.
También en este libro verás a detalle cómo los circuitos de recompensa de algunos alimentos se superponen con el de algunas drogas. La relación de serotonina y dopamina en nuestra alimentación.
Este es un libro que debes de leer para conocer el efecto de los alimentos en nuestro cerebro.
El comer de manera hedónica, por placer, como también se encuentra involucrado con los padecimientos actuales tal como el sobrepeso y la obesidad.
Un libro que tiene un gran número de referencias.