Research articles: I eat this stuff right up!

Two friends were teasing me yesterday because I don't use the Internet as I should.  I don't spend free time (wait, should I even have free time these days?!) searching meme-things or scrolling through that other site... what's it called? Tumblr??  Instead, I read research.  Yes! Throw an article on the latest and greatest randomized controlled trial in my direction and I'll be happy as a clam to sit down and read it line by line, making little notations in the margin.  Don't believe me? Refer to the post on how I spent my birthday!


For those looking for something to whet their appetite for more posts related to my research, I'll share an abstract from a review that just hit my inbox.  It's written by Simone A. French, Leonard H. Epstein, Robert W. Jeffery, John E. Blundell and Jane Wardle from Appetite (supposed I should tell you volume  59 and pages 541-549, too, huh?):

But, *geek alert* you know what really excited me about this review? I KNEW WHO THOSE AUTHORS ARE! I was giddy that I've been reading their stuff for years (okay, some of them I've only probably been reading since 2008-ish when I was gearing up for the intervention for my master's thesis, but still...).  It's Oh! moments like this that reinforce my decision to be in research. Wahoo!

The purpose of this review is to spark integrative thinking in the area of eating behaviors by critically examining research on exemplary constructs in this area. The eating behaviors food responsiveness, enjoyment of eating, satiety responsiveness, eating in the absence of hunger, reinforcing value of food, eating disinhibition and impulsivity/self-control are reviewed in relation to energy intake, body mass index and weight gain over time. Each of these constructs has been developed independently, and little research has explored the extent to which they overlap or whether they differentially predict food choices, energy intake and weight gain in the naturalistic environment. Most available data show positive cross-sectional associations with body mass index, but fewer studies report associations with energy intake or food choices. Little prospective data are available to link measures of eating behaviors with weight gain. Disinhibition has the largest and most consistent body of empirical data that link it prospectively with weight gain. An overarching conceptual model to integrate the conceptual and empirical research base for the role of eating behavior dimensions in the field of obesity research would highlight potential patterns of interaction between individual differences in eating behaviors, specific aspects of the individual's food environment and individual variation in state levels of hunger and satiety.

So, some good things to think about.