#621: Hedonic Overeating, Food Wanting and Impact of Perception – Prof. Graham Finlayson

Danny Lennon (0:00)

Hello, and welcome to another episode of Sigma Nutrition Radio. This is episode 621 of the podcast. My name is Danny Lennon. You're very welcome to the show.

Today, we're gonna be taking a look at a number of different concepts that are interrelated, but have a big impact on how we eat, how much we eat, and certainly in situations of driving overeating or enjoyment of food. And this comes from some of the work done by today's guest, Professor Graham Finlayson, who's Professor of Psychobiology at the University of Leeds. And his research focus has been on human appetite, food reward, and some of the psychological processes that are involved in our eating behavior, and therefore, how much or what types of foods we may consume. And so, what we really wanna get into, and some of his excellently published work can speak to some of these questions, relates to why nearly all of us tend to point to certain types of foods or combinations of foods that can feel very difficult to stop eating, that really drive us to overeat them, overconsume them, because of how enjoyable we find them. Now, when we try and get down to defining that within a research context, this relates to some concepts that have been discussed previously. So, for example, the concept of food reward or finding a food rewarding. However, within this, there's important distinctions to be made, because sometimes the terminology can be left a bit vague or can overlap with other ideas, and Professor Finlayson has done a great job of trying to distinguish between them and actually test specifically these ideas. So, for example, we're going to look at what we mean by liking a food versus what we mean by wanting a food, and then how we layer in the concepts of this perception of how easy it is to overeat. And as we'll explore, some of this work looks at not only the nutritional composition of foods, but really makes a strong case that's only just one part of this equation. And other things like sensory characteristics or learned beliefs or even the eating context we're in can shape some of this hedonic overeating that occurs. So we're going to go through all of these concepts with Professor Finlayson today.

In the description box we are currently listening, you'll be able to get a link to any of the useful resources to this episode, including some of the published work from Professor Finlayson that we're going to get into throughout this conversation. If you are a Sigma Nutrition Premium member, you will get a set of detailed study notes to accompany this, which will go through all the key terms, explain any concepts that have been gone through, recap that with diagrams, etc.

And so you'll have all of the information within this to be able to dive a bit deeper into it as well as to revise over quickly as well. If you're listening on the free public feed of the podcast, they're interested in getting more out of your podcast listening by getting access to the extra educational resources we have from our premium members. So for example, the study notes you get to each episode, an edited transcript, our premium exclusive episode that comes out each month, as well as an ability to ask us questions which we answer on special Q&A style episodes. Then check out what we offer with a Sigma Nutrition Premium membership. I'll put details in that in the description box where you're currently listening, or you can find that over on sigmanutrition.com and is the direct way that you can support the work we do on the podcast. So this podcast is not an ad revenue model. We are completely supported by you, our regular listeners who go on to be premium subscribers. So it's very much appreciated for any of you who do that, or any of you who are considering do that. So thank you so much for that. Without any further ado, let's get into this conversation between myself and Professor Graham Finlayson.

Big welcome to the podcast, to Doctor Graham Finlayson. Thank you so much for taking the time to come and join me today.

Graham Finlayson (4:07)

Oh, it's a pleasure. Yeah, it's good to be here. Thanks for inviting me.

Danny Lennon (4:10)

The pleasure is all mine. I've been really looking forward to this. I've read a number of your publications over a span of multiple years now, and I think on this podcast previously, we've actually discussed some of your work, so it's great to be able to talk to you directly about it today. Before we get into any of my questions, for people listening, could you maybe give them an idea of your academic background, your main research interests, and anything else you think might be relevant for them to know?