Cognitive behavioral factors, such as dietary restriction, disinhibition and the avoidance of fattening foods are involved in food choices and macro- and micronutrient intake. In this study, Cormier et al. aimed at determining whether dietary restriction may moderate the relationship between BMI and the preference for fat-free, low-fat or high-fat yogurts.
Yogurt is linked with less obesity
Yogurt consumption, even high-fat yogurt consumption, has been linked with a lower prevalence of obesity. In a precedent study, the authors found that lean individuals had more daily servings of high-fat yogurt and less daily servings of fat-free yogurt compared to overweight/obese individuals.
In this study of 664 subjects, the score of dietary restraint was correlated with the score of avoidance for fattening foods and fat-free yogurt consumption, and this regardless of the BMI. Non-restrained eaters choose more high-fat yogurt than low-fat yogurt, and overweight or obese restrainers prefer fat-free yogurt than high-fat yogurt. It’s the same for the avoidance of fattening food. There was no difference in dietary restriction between lean and overweight/obese individuals.
However, when stratified by BMI and restraint behavior, lean unrestrained eaters consumed significantly less fat-free yogurt than lean restrained eaters and overweight/obese individuals. Moreover, overweight/obese restrained eaters also consumed significantly more fat-free yogurt than unrestrained overweight/obese people.
Restriction drives the preference
In the context of obesity, an important driver for choosing calorie reduced dairy products is their fat content. The fat content of yogurt – which goes from 0 % to more than 11% – highlights the low-fat paradigm. The results suggested that restriction may modulate yogurt intake along with the milk fat percentage (% MF) chosen by an individual. Restrained eaters choose preferentially fat-free yogurt, even in lean individuals. However, the total daily fat intake between lean individuals and overweight/obese individuals remains the same. Only restrained eaters consume less daily fat, independently of their BMI. These results highlight the low-fat paradigm and the behavior of restrained eaters, which are more likely to avoid some food such as high-fat yogurt, they would like to eat.
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Source : Cormier et al., Journal of Food Nutrition and Dietetics 2016;1:106.
