Following a healthy diet when you are an impulsive person

Being a driven person can lead to quick decisions, which, depending on the circumstances and the decision made, can be good or bad. A recent study has investigated the extent to which this personality benefits or harms a person’s attempts to follow healthy dietary guidelines.

The study, which, as far as its authors know, is the first of these characteristics, has been carried out by a team from the Center for Biomedical Research in the Physiopathology of Obesity and Nutrition Network (CIBEROBN) in Spain. The research was carried out at the Human Nutrition Unit of the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) and at the Pere Virgili Health Research Institute (IISPV), both institutions in Tarragona.

The study is observational in nature and has included 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 and adherence to different healthy or unhealthy dietary patterns. healthy.

The assessment of impulsivity was measured at the beginning of the study using a questionnaire that assesses the degree of impulsivity. 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 impulsive people to restrict these foods since they are usually valued as more desirable, highlighting their urge 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.

From left to right: Nancy Babio, Carlos Gómez, Jordi Salas. (Photo: CIBEROBN)

The study is titled “Impulsivity is longitudinally associated with healthy and unhealthy dietary patterns in individuals with overweight or obesity and metabolic syndrome within the framework of the PREDIMED-Plus trial.” And it has been published in the academic journal International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity. (Source: CIBEROBN)