Exploring Correlations of Food-Specific Disgust with Eating Disorder Psychopathology and Food Interaction: A Preliminary Study Using Virtual Reality

Sevgi Bektas; Ludovica Natali; Katie Rowlands; Lucia Valmaggia; Jerome  Di Pietro; Hiba Mutwalli; Hubertus Himmerich; Janet Treasure; Valentina Cardi

doi:10.3390/nu15204443

Exploring Correlations of Food-Specific Disgust with Eating Disorder Psychopathology and Food Interaction: A Preliminary Study Using Virtual Reality

Sevgi Bektas, Ludovica Natali, Katie Rowlands, Lucia Valmaggia, Jerome Di Pietro, Hiba Mutwalli, Hubertus Himmerich, Janet Treasure, Valentina Cardi

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3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The emotion of disgust is thought to play a critical role in maintaining restrictive eating among individuals with anorexia nervosa. This exploratory cross-sectional study examined correlations between food-specific trait and state disgust, eating disorder psychopathology, illness severity (body mass index: BMI), and interactions with virtual foods in people with anorexia nervosa. Food-specific trait disgust and eating disorder symptoms were measured before exposure to virtual foods in one of three virtual reality (VR) kitchens to which participants were randomly allocated. Food interactions (eye gaze and reaching towards virtual foods) were measured during the VR exposure. Food-specific state disgust ratings were collected after the VR exposure. In the entire sample, eating disorder symptoms correlated positively with food-specific trait disgust (rs (68) = 0.45, p < 0.001). We also found a significant association between food-specific state disgust and eating disorder symptoms in each virtual kitchen scenario: virtual kitchen only (rs (22) = 0.40, p = 0.05), virtual kitchen plus pet (rs (22) = 0.80, p < 0.001), and virtual kitchen plus avatar (rs (20) = 0.78, p < 0.001). No significant correlation was observed for the link between food-specific disgust measures and food-related touch. Correlations between food-specific trait disgust and food-related eye gaze differed across scenarios. The current experimental paradigm needs to be improved to draw firm conclusions. Both food-specific trait and state disgust are associated with eating disorder psychopathology, and therefore, effective strategies are warranted to attenuate food-specific disgust.

Original language	English
Article number	4443
Pages (from-to)	4443
Number of pages	9
Journal	Nutrients
Volume	15
Issue number	20
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15204443
Publication status	Published - 19 Oct 2023

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title = "Exploring Correlations of Food-Specific Disgust with Eating Disorder Psychopathology and Food Interaction: A Preliminary Study Using Virtual Reality",

abstract = "The emotion of disgust is thought to play a critical role in maintaining restrictive eating among individuals with anorexia nervosa. This exploratory cross-sectional study examined correlations between food-specific trait and state disgust, eating disorder psychopathology, illness severity (body mass index: BMI), and interactions with virtual foods in people with anorexia nervosa. Food-specific trait disgust and eating disorder symptoms were measured before exposure to virtual foods in one of three virtual reality (VR) kitchens to which participants were randomly allocated. Food interactions (eye gaze and reaching towards virtual foods) were measured during the VR exposure. Food-specific state disgust ratings were collected after the VR exposure. In the entire sample, eating disorder symptoms correlated positively with food-specific trait disgust (rs (68) = 0.45, p < 0.001). We also found a significant association between food-specific state disgust and eating disorder symptoms in each virtual kitchen scenario: virtual kitchen only (rs (22) = 0.40, p = 0.05), virtual kitchen plus pet (rs (22) = 0.80, p < 0.001), and virtual kitchen plus avatar (rs (20) = 0.78, p < 0.001). No significant correlation was observed for the link between food-specific disgust measures and food-related touch. Correlations between food-specific trait disgust and food-related eye gaze differed across scenarios. The current experimental paradigm needs to be improved to draw firm conclusions. Both food-specific trait and state disgust are associated with eating disorder psychopathology, and therefore, effective strategies are warranted to attenuate food-specific disgust.",

author = "Sevgi Bektas and Ludovica Natali and Katie Rowlands and Lucia Valmaggia and {Di Pietro}, Jerome and Hiba Mutwalli and Hubertus Himmerich and Janet Treasure and Valentina Cardi",

note = "Funding Information: The virtual reality (VR) environment was developed by the KCL VR Research Lab for an ongoing large study led by V.C. and supported by the Medical Research Council []. The VR environment was built using the Unity3D game engine, Oculus Integration SDK for Unity, and Oculus Quest 2 headsets. A head-mounted display (HMD) headset and two Oculus Touch controllers were used. The headset has six degrees of freedom (6DoF) technology, which provides continuous rotational and positional tracking. The screen had a resolution of 1832 × 1920 pixels per eye. Funding Information: This research was funded by the Medical Research Council (grant number MR/V003283/1). Lucia Valmaggia, Hubertus Himmerich, and Janet Treasure received salary support from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) and KCL. The authors would like to thank the Ministry of National Education of T{\"u}rkiye for funding Sevgi Bektas{\textquoteright}s post-graduate studentship (the funder had no role in this project). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 by the authors.",

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doi = "10.3390/nu15204443",

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AU - Bektas, Sevgi

AU - Natali, Ludovica

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AU - Valmaggia, Lucia

AU - Di Pietro, Jerome

AU - Mutwalli, Hiba

AU - Himmerich, Hubertus

AU - Treasure, Janet

AU - Cardi, Valentina

N1 - Funding Information: The virtual reality (VR) environment was developed by the KCL VR Research Lab for an ongoing large study led by V.C. and supported by the Medical Research Council []. The VR environment was built using the Unity3D game engine, Oculus Integration SDK for Unity, and Oculus Quest 2 headsets. A head-mounted display (HMD) headset and two Oculus Touch controllers were used. The headset has six degrees of freedom (6DoF) technology, which provides continuous rotational and positional tracking. The screen had a resolution of 1832 × 1920 pixels per eye. Funding Information: This research was funded by the Medical Research Council (grant number MR/V003283/1). Lucia Valmaggia, Hubertus Himmerich, and Janet Treasure received salary support from the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust (SLaM) and KCL. The authors would like to thank the Ministry of National Education of Türkiye for funding Sevgi Bektas’s post-graduate studentship (the funder had no role in this project). Publisher Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.

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N2 - The emotion of disgust is thought to play a critical role in maintaining restrictive eating among individuals with anorexia nervosa. This exploratory cross-sectional study examined correlations between food-specific trait and state disgust, eating disorder psychopathology, illness severity (body mass index: BMI), and interactions with virtual foods in people with anorexia nervosa. Food-specific trait disgust and eating disorder symptoms were measured before exposure to virtual foods in one of three virtual reality (VR) kitchens to which participants were randomly allocated. Food interactions (eye gaze and reaching towards virtual foods) were measured during the VR exposure. Food-specific state disgust ratings were collected after the VR exposure. In the entire sample, eating disorder symptoms correlated positively with food-specific trait disgust (rs (68) = 0.45, p < 0.001). We also found a significant association between food-specific state disgust and eating disorder symptoms in each virtual kitchen scenario: virtual kitchen only (rs (22) = 0.40, p = 0.05), virtual kitchen plus pet (rs (22) = 0.80, p < 0.001), and virtual kitchen plus avatar (rs (20) = 0.78, p < 0.001). No significant correlation was observed for the link between food-specific disgust measures and food-related touch. Correlations between food-specific trait disgust and food-related eye gaze differed across scenarios. The current experimental paradigm needs to be improved to draw firm conclusions. Both food-specific trait and state disgust are associated with eating disorder psychopathology, and therefore, effective strategies are warranted to attenuate food-specific disgust.

AB - The emotion of disgust is thought to play a critical role in maintaining restrictive eating among individuals with anorexia nervosa. This exploratory cross-sectional study examined correlations between food-specific trait and state disgust, eating disorder psychopathology, illness severity (body mass index: BMI), and interactions with virtual foods in people with anorexia nervosa. Food-specific trait disgust and eating disorder symptoms were measured before exposure to virtual foods in one of three virtual reality (VR) kitchens to which participants were randomly allocated. Food interactions (eye gaze and reaching towards virtual foods) were measured during the VR exposure. Food-specific state disgust ratings were collected after the VR exposure. In the entire sample, eating disorder symptoms correlated positively with food-specific trait disgust (rs (68) = 0.45, p < 0.001). We also found a significant association between food-specific state disgust and eating disorder symptoms in each virtual kitchen scenario: virtual kitchen only (rs (22) = 0.40, p = 0.05), virtual kitchen plus pet (rs (22) = 0.80, p < 0.001), and virtual kitchen plus avatar (rs (20) = 0.78, p < 0.001). No significant correlation was observed for the link between food-specific disgust measures and food-related touch. Correlations between food-specific trait disgust and food-related eye gaze differed across scenarios. The current experimental paradigm needs to be improved to draw firm conclusions. Both food-specific trait and state disgust are associated with eating disorder psychopathology, and therefore, effective strategies are warranted to attenuate food-specific disgust.

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ER -

Exploring Correlations of Food-Specific Disgust with Eating Disorder Psychopathology and Food Interaction: A Preliminary Study Using Virtual Reality

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