A cross-cultural comparison of appetitive and dietary responses to food challenges

Abstract

Cross-cultural comparisons of appetitive and dietary responses to foods should provide mechanistic insights on the global obesity prevalence pattern. Healthy, normal weight, adult, Americans (N=24) and Ghanaians (N=29) participated in eight food challenges. After an overnight fast, appetite was rated and saliva was collected before and after viewing/smelling the day’s food challenge (peanuts, peanut butter, almonds, chocolate, chestnuts, pickles, rice cakes or no load). Appetitive sensations were recorded for 3 h and diet records were kept 24 h prior to and following food ingestion. Similar changes of hunger were noted across cultures. Discrepancies in cephalic phase salivary flow were observed between groups for all foods except peanuts (all P<0.05), possibly due to differences in food familiarity and local cuisine. Mean (SE) dietary compensation scores were 81 16%and 100 10%in the Americans and Ghanaians, but the latter group had more complete compensation to foods matched to peanuts on weight and volume (both P<0.05) suggesting a greater sensitivity to these food properties. Monotony effects were stronger in the Ghanaians who customarily had less diverse diets. These data reveal population differences in appetitive and dietary responses to foods with potential nutritional implications