Meal Enjoyment and Tolerance in Women and Men

• Main Authors: Hugo Monrroy, Teodora Pribic, Carmen Galan, Adoracion Nieto, Nuria Amigo, Anna Accarino, Xavier Correig, Fernando Azpiroz
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-01-01
• Series: Nutrients
• Subjects: meal ingestion; post-prandial sensations; hedonic response; homeostatic sensations; gender differences; metabolomic response
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/1/119

Various conditioning factors influence the sensory response to a meal (inducible factors). We hypothesized that inherent characteristics of the eater (constitutive factors) also play a role. The aim of this proof-of-concept study was to determine the role of gender, as an individual constitutive factor, on the meal-related experience. Randomized parallel trial in 10 women and 10 men, comparing the sensations before, during, and after stepwise ingestion of a comfort meal up to full satiation. Comparisons were performed by repeated Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) measures. During stepwise ingestion, satisfaction initially increased up to a peak, and later decreased down to a nadir at the point of full satiation. Interestingly, the amount of food consumed at the well-being peak was lower, and induced significantly less fullness in women than in men. Hence, men required a larger meal load and stronger homeostatic sensations to achieve satisfaction. The same pattern was observed at the level of full satiation: men ate more and still experienced positive well-being, whereas in women, well-being scores dropped below pre-meal level. The effect of gender on the ingestion experience suggests that other constitutive factors of the eater may also influence responses to meals.