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Behavior, Psychology and Sociology

Reward-related eating, self-regulation, and weight change in pregnancy and postpartum: the Pregnancy Eating Attributes Study (PEAS)

International Journal of Obesity volume 44, pages 2444–2454 (2020)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives

Reward-related eating is hypothesized to underlie risk for weight gain in obesogenic environments, but its role is unknown during pregnancy and postpartum when weight change is normative, but excess weight gain and weight retention are common. This study examined associations of self-reported reward-related eating, self-regulation, and the home food environment with excessive gestational weight gain (GWG) and postpartum weight change.

Subjects/Methods

Participants in the Pregnancy Eating Attributes Study observational cohort were enrolled at ≤12 weeks pregnancy and followed through 1-year postpartum (458 recruited; 367 retained through delivery). Participants completed four measures of reward-related eating—Modified Yale Food Addiction Scale, Power of Food Scale, Multiple Choice Procedure, and a Reinforcing Value of Food Questionnaire; two measures of self-regulation—Barratt Impulsiveness Scale and Delay of Gratification Inventory; and a Home Food Inventory. Measured weight and skinfolds were obtained. Multinomial logistic and multiple linear regression analyses estimated associations of reward-related eating, self-regulation, and home food environment with excessive GWG, gestational fat gain, postpartum weight change, and percent of GWG retained.

Results

Excessive GWG was associated with food reinforcement intensity, but not with any other measure of reward-related eating, self-regulation, or home food environment. Greater gestational fat gain was associated only with higher Multiple Choice Procedure. Postpartum weight change and percent of GWG retained were associated with greater delay of gratification and obesogenic home food environment, but not with any measure of reward-related eating or with impulsivity.

Conclusions

Findings do not support the hypothesis that self-reported reward-related eating is associated with weight outcomes in pregnancy and postpartum but indicate a relation of delay of gratification with postpartum weight retention. Further research using both surveys and objective measures of reward-related eating is needed to advance our understanding of the relation of reward-related eating with weight changes during this critical period of a woman’s life.

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Acknowledgements

Sources of Support: This research was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Intramural Research Program (contract #HHSN275201300012C and #HHSN275201300026I/HHSN27500002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Social and Behavioral Sciences Branch, Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 6710B Rockledge Dr., MSC 7004, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Tonja R. Nansel & Leah M. Lipsky

  2. Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, 2204 McGavran-Greenberg Hall, CB#, 7461, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Kyle Burger

  3. Department of Counseling, School, and Educational Psychology, Graduate School of Education, 420 Baldy Hall, University at Buffalo–SUNY, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Myles Faith

  4. Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, 3027 Old Clinic Building, CB, 7570, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Wanda Nicholson

  5. Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, 3010 Old Clinic Building, CB, 7516, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Alison Stuebe

  6. Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Branch, Division of Intramural Population Health Research, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, 6710B Rockledge Dr., MSC 7004, Bethesda, MD, USA

    Aiyi Liu

  7. Departments of Nutrition and Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health and Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, 109 Arnold House, 715 Pleasant St., Amherst, MA, USA

    Anna Maria Siega-Riz

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  1. Tonja R. Nansel
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Correspondence to Tonja R. Nansel.

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Nansel, T.R., Lipsky, L.M., Burger, K. et al. Reward-related eating, self-regulation, and weight change in pregnancy and postpartum: the Pregnancy Eating Attributes Study (PEAS). Int J Obes 44, 2444–2454 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41366-020-00685-2

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