The relevance of cardiac and gastric interoception for disordered eating behavior
Abstract Background Gastric interoception (i.e., the perception of gastrointestinal signals such as hunger, satiety or nausea) in the context of eating has recently gained increasing research attention. Nevertheless, it remains poorly understood how different interoceptive dimensions (e.g., self-rep...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Eating Disorders |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-025-01284-0 |
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| author | Aline Tiemann Julie Ortmann Marius Rubo Andrea H. Meyer Simone Munsch Claus Vögele Zoé van Dyck |
| author_facet | Aline Tiemann Julie Ortmann Marius Rubo Andrea H. Meyer Simone Munsch Claus Vögele Zoé van Dyck |
| author_sort | Aline Tiemann |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background Gastric interoception (i.e., the perception of gastrointestinal signals such as hunger, satiety or nausea) in the context of eating has recently gained increasing research attention. Nevertheless, it remains poorly understood how different interoceptive dimensions (e.g., self-report) and organ systems (e.g., cardiac, gastric) relate to each other and to disordered eating behaviors such as emotional, external and restrained eating. We assessed multiple dimensions (behavioral, self-reported, and physiological) in the cardiac domain (interoceptive accuracy, interoceptive self-report, interoceptive insight and objective physiological state) and in the gastric domain (gastric interoceptive sensitivity, gastric attribution of interoceptive sensations, interoceptive self-report, interoceptive insight and objective physiological state). The first goal of this study was to examine the relationship between cardiac and gastric interoception measured via multiple dimensions (behavioral, self-reported, and physiological). The second goal was to investigate whether multidimensional gastric interoception was a more important predictor of emotional, external and restrained eating than multidimensional cardiac interoception. Methods Our sample (n = 128) was predominantly female (n = 116), included healthy individuals (n = 87) and individuals with an eating disorder or sub-clinical eating disorder (n = 41). Instruments included a heartbeat counting task, the two-step Water Load Test, electrocardiogram, electrogastrogram and the Dutch-Eating Behaviour Questionnaire. We used correlation analysis, multiple regressions, and LASSO regressions. The final sample included in the multiple regression and LASSO regressions resulted in N = 89. Results Results showed cardiac and gastric interoception to be distinguishable, yet not to be entirely independent processes. Results further suggest gastric and not cardiac interoception to be the most important predictor of emotional, external and restrained eating. Specifically gastric attribution of interoceptive sensations played the most important role in all disordered eating behaviors. Conclusions Our findings highlight the importance of the gastric system in the assessment and targeted treatment of disordered eating behaviors. Future research should consider adding additional interoceptive dimensions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-906d9be8946f43b1aed9a380908f6f7a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2050-2974 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Eating Disorders |
| spelling | doaj-art-906d9be8946f43b1aed9a380908f6f7a2025-08-20T03:47:24ZengBMCJournal of Eating Disorders2050-29742025-06-0113111710.1186/s40337-025-01284-0The relevance of cardiac and gastric interoception for disordered eating behaviorAline Tiemann0Julie Ortmann1Marius Rubo2Andrea H. Meyer3Simone Munsch4Claus Vögele5Zoé van Dyck6Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of FribourgDepartment of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Health and Behaviour, University of LuxembourgDepartment of Cognitive Psychology, Perception and Methodology, Institute of Psychology, University of BernDepartment of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of FribourgDepartment of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of FribourgDepartment of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Health and Behaviour, University of LuxembourgDepartment of Behavioural and Cognitive Sciences, Institute for Health and Behaviour, University of LuxembourgAbstract Background Gastric interoception (i.e., the perception of gastrointestinal signals such as hunger, satiety or nausea) in the context of eating has recently gained increasing research attention. Nevertheless, it remains poorly understood how different interoceptive dimensions (e.g., self-report) and organ systems (e.g., cardiac, gastric) relate to each other and to disordered eating behaviors such as emotional, external and restrained eating. We assessed multiple dimensions (behavioral, self-reported, and physiological) in the cardiac domain (interoceptive accuracy, interoceptive self-report, interoceptive insight and objective physiological state) and in the gastric domain (gastric interoceptive sensitivity, gastric attribution of interoceptive sensations, interoceptive self-report, interoceptive insight and objective physiological state). The first goal of this study was to examine the relationship between cardiac and gastric interoception measured via multiple dimensions (behavioral, self-reported, and physiological). The second goal was to investigate whether multidimensional gastric interoception was a more important predictor of emotional, external and restrained eating than multidimensional cardiac interoception. Methods Our sample (n = 128) was predominantly female (n = 116), included healthy individuals (n = 87) and individuals with an eating disorder or sub-clinical eating disorder (n = 41). Instruments included a heartbeat counting task, the two-step Water Load Test, electrocardiogram, electrogastrogram and the Dutch-Eating Behaviour Questionnaire. We used correlation analysis, multiple regressions, and LASSO regressions. The final sample included in the multiple regression and LASSO regressions resulted in N = 89. Results Results showed cardiac and gastric interoception to be distinguishable, yet not to be entirely independent processes. Results further suggest gastric and not cardiac interoception to be the most important predictor of emotional, external and restrained eating. Specifically gastric attribution of interoceptive sensations played the most important role in all disordered eating behaviors. Conclusions Our findings highlight the importance of the gastric system in the assessment and targeted treatment of disordered eating behaviors. Future research should consider adding additional interoceptive dimensions.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-025-01284-0InteroceptionCardiac interoceptionGastric interoceptionMultidimensionalDisordered eating behaviorEmotional eating |
| spellingShingle | Aline Tiemann Julie Ortmann Marius Rubo Andrea H. Meyer Simone Munsch Claus Vögele Zoé van Dyck The relevance of cardiac and gastric interoception for disordered eating behavior Journal of Eating Disorders Interoception Cardiac interoception Gastric interoception Multidimensional Disordered eating behavior Emotional eating |
| title | The relevance of cardiac and gastric interoception for disordered eating behavior |
| title_full | The relevance of cardiac and gastric interoception for disordered eating behavior |
| title_fullStr | The relevance of cardiac and gastric interoception for disordered eating behavior |
| title_full_unstemmed | The relevance of cardiac and gastric interoception for disordered eating behavior |
| title_short | The relevance of cardiac and gastric interoception for disordered eating behavior |
| title_sort | relevance of cardiac and gastric interoception for disordered eating behavior |
| topic | Interoception Cardiac interoception Gastric interoception Multidimensional Disordered eating behavior Emotional eating |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-025-01284-0 |
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