A study indicates that those who show great urgency to respond quickly to their emotions have difficulty following advice on eating CIBER/DICYT People with high impulsivity have greater difficulties in adhering to healthy dietary patterns and more easily adhere to unhealthy dietary patterns with time. This has been confirmed by a recent study carried out by a team from the Obesity and Nutrition area of the CIBER (CIBEROBN), in the Human Nutrition Unit of the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) and the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV), the first of these characteristics, and whose results have been published in the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.
To do this, the team carried out an observational study with more than 460 volunteers from four Spanish research centers who were followed up for three years to analyze the associations between the impulsive personality trait of people and adherence to different healthy dietary patterns. or unhealthy. The assessment of impulsivity was measured at the beginning of the study using a questionnaire that assesses the impulsive personality trait. Likewise, adherence to eight healthy dietary patterns was evaluated (which are aimed at reducing cardiovascular risk, hypertension, cholesterol, cognitive decline and being sustainable with the planet) as well as adherence to two unhealthy eating patterns. The results revealed that the most impulsive people, those who show a great urgency to respond quickly to their emotions and poor planning, tend to have more difficulty adhering to healthy dietary patterns aimed at reducing cardiovascular risk, cholesterol and hypertension. . These healthy dietary patterns contain less red and processed meat, and less refined carbohydrates, making it more difficult for these more impulsive people to restrict these foods since they are usually valued as more desirable, highlighting their urgency to eat them. This urge to eat them, coupled with their failure to plan for healthier options, is also likely to make people with higher impulsiveness better adhere to unhealthy dietary patterns. The study has been led by the predoctoral researcher Carlos Gómez-Martínez, under the direction of the research team made up of Nancy Babio, Jordi Júlvez and Jordi Salas-Salvadó, from the Human Nutrition Unit of the URV -IISPV and the CIBEROBN. The research is part of the PREDIMED-Plus study and has been funded by the European projects Eat2BeNice and PRIME, as well as by the Carlos III Health Institute through different projects.