Chocolate craving and hunger state: Implications for the acquisition and expression of appetite and food choice

The importance of hunger state for the acquisition and expression of chocol ate craving was investigated. Seventeen chocolate cravers and 12 non-craver s were supplied with chocolate and instructed to eat some twice a day for 1 4 days. Within each group, subjects were allocated to one of two conditions , hungry- or full-trained. Hungry-trained subjects were asked to eat the ch ocolate exclusively at least 2 h after last eating; full-trained subjects w ere asked only to eat the chocolate 15-30 min after eating a meal. A diary was kept to encourage and allow assessment of compliance. At the start and end of the 2 weeks, subjects rated their craving for and anticipated intake of chocolate prior to eating it; then, on initial tasting, pleasantness of the taste was rated. All subjects made these ratings on one day when hungr y and on another when full, as defined above. For cravers and non-cravers w ho ate chocolate exclusively when hungry, chocolate craving increased post- training, but, at least for cravers, only when ratings were made while hung ry. For full-trained subjects, chocolate craving decreased posttraining, bu t this decrease did not depend on whether subjects were currently hungry or full. A similar pattern of results was found for anticipated intake and pl easantness of taste, except that pleasantness did not increase in hungry-tr ained subjects. The results are interpreted with reference to learned contr ol of appetite and in particular to recent findings on incentive learning p rocesses. Craving for chocolate or other foods may be an expression of a st rong appetite elicited by hunger that has been acquired by repeated experie nce of eating the craved food when hungry. (C) 1999 Academic Press.