France Bellisle

• Université Sorbonne Paris Nord

Nonnutritive sweeteners were introduced on the market over a century ago to displace the calories of added sugars in foods and beverages and, therefore, facilitate weight loss. In spite of their widespread use, obesity has reached epidemic proportions. The present paper addresses this apparent paradox. Low‐ or no‐energy sweeteners (LNES) are a smal...

Almonds are consumed by individuals around the world. Because almonds are rich in protein, unsaturated fatty acids, and fiber, a significant amount of research has been conducted on their role in affecting various cardiometabolic endpoints (body weight, blood pressure, blood cholesterol levels, and glycemic response). The most current meta-analyses...

Objectives:Consideration of future consequences (CFC) distinguishes individuals who adopt behaviors based on immediate needs and concerns from individuals who consider the future consequences of their behaviors. We aimed to assess the association between CFC and diet, and testing the mediating role of food choice motives on this relationship. Desig...

Distinguishing between flexible and rigid cognitive restraint (CR) may be useful for understanding the role of CR in dietary behavior and weight status. This study aimed to translate and adapt the flexible and rigid CR scales to the French context and test their psychometric properties. Construct validity, internal consistency, and test–retest reli...

Pistachio nuts are a nutrient-dense source of good quality plant protein, commonly consumed as a minimally processed snack food or ingredient. The present paper is based on a symposium held during the 13th FENS (Federation of European Nutrition Societies) 2019 conference in Dublin that explored recent research and practical applications of pistachi...

Early attempts at the objective measurement of food intake in humans followed many heuristic pioneer studies in laboratory animals, which revealed how homeostatic and hedonic factors interact to shape the daily eating patterns. Early studies in humans examined the characteristics of intake responses at discrete ingestive events. Described for the f...

Organic food consumption has risen in many countries during the past decades, but individual behaviors leading to these choices remain unclear.. The aim of this study was to evaluate the associations between cognitive restraint, weight loss diet history and organic food intake, in French adults. This cross-sectional analysis included 21,516 partici...

Over the last decades, eating episodes in addition to the three daily main meals have been observed worldwide; the prevalence of these “snacking” episodes raises health questions that mindful eating may contribute to answering. The goal of the symposium entitled “Mindful eating applied to snacking: a promising behavioral approach supported by resea...

A consensus workshop on low-calorie sweeteners (LCS) was held in November 2018 where seventeen experts (the panel) discussed three themes identified as key to the science and policy of LCS: (1) weight management and glucose control; (2) consumption, safety and perception; (3) nutrition policy. The aims were to identify the reliable facts on LCS, su...

Organic food consumption has risen in many countries during the past decades, but individual motives leading to these choices remain unclear. This study aimed to evaluate the associations between cognitive restraint (CR), history of dieting and organic food intake. This cross-sectional analysis included 20,085 organic food consumers from the NutriN...

Dietary guidelines around the world recommend the regular intake of nuts because of their nutrient contribution to the diet and reported health benefits. However, consumers are often reluctant to include nuts in their diet due to the high caloric density of nuts. In a 12-week randomized, controlled intervention, we investigated how adding a pistach...

Objectives Dietary guidelines around the world recommend regular intake of nuts because of their nutrient contribution to the diet and reported health benefits such as cardiometabolic risk reduction. Nuts, including pistachios, are nutrient-dense foods, high in protein, fiber, phytosterols, antioxidants, MUFA and PUFA. Consumers are often reluctant...

Including nuts in the diet improves appetite control and does not lead to weight gain. However, for pistachios, evidence from randomized intervention studies is limited and there are no data on the effect of pistachios on satiety. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of daily consumption of pistachios as an afternoon snack on satiet...

Background: Impulsivity is a psychological trait linked to health issues such as obesity. However, few studies have explored the relation between impulsivity, dietary intake, and eating disorders (EDs) in a general population. Objective: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess whether impulsivity was associated with energy intake, fo...

The study of human food intake behavior under laboratory settings benefits from the high level of control possible in the laboratory to investigate various aspects of ingestive responses, their determinants, and their consequences. Early laboratory studies of food ingestion have identified physiological mechanisms and suggested brain substrates. Su...

Improving food choices represents a major goal for the environment and public health. Consideration of future consequences (CFC) is a psychological construct that distinguishes individuals who adopt behaviors based on immediate needs and concerns from individuals who consider the future implications and consequences of their behavior. The objective...

Introduction et but de l’étude L’impulsivité est un trait de personnalité associé à des comportements alimentaires défavorables pour la santé ainsi qu’à l’obésité. Cependant, peu d’études ont étudié les relations entre l’impulsivité, les consommations alimentaires, et les troubles du comportement alimentaire (TCA) en population générale. L’objectif...

The International Breakfast Research Initiative (IBRI) set out to derive nutritional recommendations for a balanced breakfast using a standardized analysis of national nutrition surveys from Canada, Denmark, France, Spain, UK and the US. In all countries, the frequency of breakfast consumption by age was high and U-shaped with children and older ad...

Background: Emotional eating (EmE) is characterized by an over consumption of food in response to negative emotions and is associated with an increased weight status. Consideration of Future Consequences (CFC) or a low level of impulsivity could influence the association between EmE and weight status. The objective was to analyze the moderating in...

This study examines the consumption of breakfast on the basis of a 7-day dietary record (Comportements et Consommations Alimentaires en France 2012–2013) in a representative sample of French children (n = 426), adolescents (n = 250), and adults (n = 1045). A large majority of the participants were regular consumers of breakfast (5–7 times per week)...

International scientific experts in food, nutrition, dietetics, endocrinology, physical activity, paediatrics, nursing, toxicology and public health met in Lisbon on 2–4 July 2017 to develop a Consensus on the use of low- and no-calorie sweeteners (LNCS) as substitutes for sugars and other caloric sweeteners. LNCS are food additives that are broadl...

The aim of this study was to determine the contribution of individual and school characteristics to the variability in body mass index (BMI) z-scores of 7 to 10 years old children. Anthropometric and sociodemographic data from two cross-sectional studies conducted with schoolchildren from the 2nd to the 5th grades of elementary schools were analyse...

The ‘French Eating Model’ characterised by structured meals and conviviality has received little attention, although it has been suggested as a potential explanation of the French paradox. This study aims at assessing the adherence to this model in French adults and whether it is associated with weight status. Eating behaviour and, in particular, n...

Breakfast is often referred to as the most important meal of the day and in recent years has been implicated in weight control, cardio-metabolic risk factors and cognitive performance although, at present, the literature remains inconclusive as to the precise health benefits of breakfast. There are extensive reports of breakfast’s contributions to...

Sugar-containing beverages are often seen as a negative influence on diet quality and body weight control. The present study examines the consumption of 100% fruit juice (FJ) based on a seven-day dietary survey in a representative sample of French adults (n = 1607). About a half of the participants (44%) consumed FJ, most often at breakfast time (6...

Background: Few studies have specifically focused on demographic and socio-economic characteristics associated with snacking in adults, whereas their identification could be useful for defining effective public health measures. The aim of our study was to assess the associations of these factors with daily snacking behavior and its dietary quality...

Background: Snacking raises concern since it may lead to an additional energy intake and poor nutrient quality. A snacking occasion can be defined as any eating occasion apart from main meals, regardless of the amount or type of foods consumed. We described the frequency of snacking occasions according to daily timing in French adults, and compare...

The aims of this study were to identify cross-sectional dietary patterns (DPs) in a representative sample of 7-10-year-old schoolchildren, to examine how scores for these DPs tracked over a time period of five years (from age 7-10 years to 12-15 years), and to investigate longitudinal associations between changes in DPs scores and changes in BMI (B...

The objective of this study is to examine the association between impulsivity and weight status in a large sample of the adult general population in France, and the influence of gender on this relationship. A total of 11,929 men and 39,114 women participating in the NutriNet-Santé cohort were selected in this cross-sectional analysis. The Barratt I...

Sweetness is a very powerful psycho-biological stimulus which induces innate responses of acceptance. The appetite for this flavour evolves spontaneously throughout life. In adults, it is the fruit of several influences, including genetics, food experience and culture. Sweetness is often identified as playing a role in the obesity epidemic. Some pe...

Large differences exist in the frequency of overweight and obesity between France and the United States. The reasons for this situation have been addressed in the recent American scientific literature. Some of the less frequently examined factors are reviewed here from the standpoint of possible differences in psychosocial and cultural differences....

Several studies reported that the timing of eating events has critical implications in the prevention of obesity, but dietary patterns regarding the time-of-day have not been explored in children. The aim of this study was to derive latent food patterns of daily eating events and to examine their associations with overweight/obesity among schoolchi...

Background: Intuitive eating (IE) is characterized by eating in response to physiological hunger and satiety cues rather than emotional cues and not considering certain foods to be forbidden. Evidence supports an inverse association of IE with body mass index (BMI), but little is known about its association with food intake. Objective: We aimed...

Contexte Les facteurs psychologiques constituent des déterminants importants des comportements alimentaires et de l’état nutritionnel. L’impulsivité est un trait de personnalité définit comme une prédisposition à des réactions rapides et non planifiées sans considération de leurs conséquences négatives potentielles. L’impulsivité pourrait avoir un...

Introduction et but de l’etude Les facteurs psychologiques constituent des determinants important des comportements alimentaires et de l’etat nutritionnel des individus. L’impulsivite est un trait de personnalite definit comme une predisposition vers des reactions rapides et non planifiees sans consideration des consequences negatives de ces reacti...

Introduction et but de l’étude Le modèle alimentaire français se caractérise par une structuration des prises alimentaires et par une importance attachée à la convivialité au moment des repas. Ces dernières décennies, l’évolution des modes de vie, puis de l’offre alimentaire a conduit à une modification des pratiques culinaires et des modes de cons...

Objective: To estimate reporting bias of WebCAAFE, a web-based questionnaire for the assessment of food intake (recall of frequency of intake of thirty-two food items the day before) and physical activity in schoolchildren. Design: Cross-sectional study. Self-reported food intake on WebCAAFE was compared with direct observation of school meals i...

Objective: To examine the relationship between intuitive eating (IE), which includes eating in response to hunger and satiety cues rather than emotional cues and without having forbidden foods, and weight status in a large sample of adults. Methods: A total of 11,774 men and 40,389 women aged ≥18 years participating in the NutriNet-Santé cohort...

Introduction: In industrialized countries characterized by a high prevalence of obesity and chronic stress, mind-body practices such as yoga or meditation may facilitate body weight control. However, virtually no data are available to ascertain whether practicing mind-body techniques is associated with weight status. The purpose of this study is t...

Mindfulness is defined as non-judgmental awareness of the present moment. There is some evidence of the efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions in weight loss. However, this psychological concept has only been rarely explored in observational studies, and no study to date has examined the association between dispositional mindfulness and weight...

In the context of the worldwide epidemic of obesity affecting men and women of all ages, it is important to understand the mechanisms that control human appetite, particularly those that allow the adjustment of energy intake to energy needs. Satiety is one important psycho-biological mechanism whose function is to inhibit intake following the inges...

The consumption of whole grain foods is associated with many nutritional, health and weight control benefits. The present study assessed whole grain intake in France on the basis of a 7 d dietary survey in a representative sample of children, adolescents and adults (Comportements et Consommations Alimentaires en France 2010 survey). Special care wa...

High intensity, low-energy sweeteners (LES) are used by many consumers in order to limit energy intake and possibly facilitate body weight control. These beneficial effects are often questioned in the scientific and lay media. LES are frequently accused of stimulating and/or maintaining a liking for sweetness which in turn would be deleterious for...

La consommation de céréales complètes (CC) en France a été étudiée à partir d’une enquête alimentaire de sept jours dans un échantillon représentatif d’enfants, adolescents et adultes. Une attention particulière a été apportée à l’identification de tous les apports en CC. Chez plus de la moitié des participants, aucune consommation de CC n’a été dé...

The consumption of whole grain foods is associated with many nutritional, health and weight control benefits. The present study assessed whole grain intake in France on the basis of a 7 d dietary survey in a representative sample of children, adolescents and adults (Comportements et Consommations Alimentaires en France 2010 survey). Special care wa...

Intuitive eating is an adaptive dietary behavior that emphasizes eating in response to physiological hunger and satiety cues. The Intuitive Eating Scale-2 (IES-2) measures such attitudes and behaviors. The aim of the present study was to adapt the IES-2 to the French context and to test its psychometric properties in 335 women and 297 men participa...

Objective: To compare the sensitivity and specificity of body mass index (BMI)-based classification systems and to determine the optimal cut-offs for predicting excess body fatness in schoolchildren. Methods: 2795 schoolchildren aged 7 - 10 years were examined. Excess body fatness was defined as the standardized residuals of the sum of three ski...

In recent years, emotional eating (EmE) has incited substantial research interest as an important psychologic determinant of food intake and overweight. However, little is known about factors that might modulate its relations with dietary habits. The objective was to examine the association between EmE and consumption of energy-dense snack food and...

The present obesity "epidemic" has been attributed to a growing trend for snacking. Snacking may contribute to excess energy intake and weight gain through different ways, for example: context/environment of eating, frequency of consumption and quality of food choices. The present article reviews data and hypotheses about the role of snacks in diet...

‘Satiation’ and ‘satiety’ are key terms that have come to be widely used to help understand processes involved in appetite control and, in turn, to account for changes in food consumption that may lead to obesity. Taken together, satiation and satiety are major components of the Satiety Cascade. In theory building the terms have different levels of...

Fruit juices and nectars are very little processed foods that are governed by a specific regulation (French decree 2003-838). In France, the most consumed fruit juices are “pure juice”, coming from fruits only, simply squeezed and pasteurized. The consumption of fruit juices in France is moderate, averaging half a glass per day for children (110 mL...

Melanocortin-4 Receptor (MC4R) gene mutations are involved in the leptin-melanocortin pathways that control food intake. The effect of these mutations on eating behaviour phenotypes is still debated. To determine the association between functional MC4R mutations and eating behaviours, dietary intake and physical activity, we sequenced the MC4R gene...

With growing concerns about the rising incidence of obesity, there is interest in understanding how the human appetite contributes to energy balance and how it might be affected by the foods we consume, as well as other cultural and environmental factors. Satiation, satiety and the control of food intake provides a concise and authoritative overvie...

Background: Unlike other psychological correlates of weight status, emotional eating (EmE) has received relatively limited attention in the literature. Objectives: We aimed to examine the association between the EmE score and weight status and the influence of sex and dieting on this association. Design: A total of 8580 men and 27,061 women ag...

Factors of the Eating Inventory-51 (EI) were revealed as significant predictors of health risks. Associations of EI factors (restraint, disinhibition, hunger) with cardiometabolic risk parameters and selected hormones were analysed before and after an in-patient weight reduction programme. Sixty-seven women (age: 48.7 ± 12.2 years; body mass index:...

Melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) mutations are the most common known cause of monogenic obesity and an important contributor to polygenic obesity. MC4R mutations with partial or total loss of function, as well as the variant rs17782313 mapped near MC4R, are positively associated with obesity. MC4R is involved in the leptin-melanocortin signalling sys...

Satiation and satiety are central concepts in the understanding of appetite control and both have to do with the inhibition of eating. Satiation occurs during an eating episode and brings it to an end. Satiety starts after the end of eating and prevents further eating before the return of hunger. Enhancing satiation and satiety derived from foodstu...

Human desire for sweet taste spans all ages, races, and cultures. Throughout evolution, sweetness has had a role in human nutrition, helping to orient feeding behavior toward foods providing both energy and essential nutrients. Infants and young children in particular base many of their food choices on familiarity and sweet taste. The low cost and...

To investigate the influence of environmental conditions on energy intake at lunch time in normal-weight versus overweight male adolescents. Healthy 15-17 year-old adolescents (19 normal-weight, 19 overweight) participated in lunch tests under laboratory settings. Four conditions were compared: eating in groups, eating alone, eating alone while vie...

Ouvrage édité d'après l’expertise scientifique collective réalisée par l’INRA à la demande du ministère de l’Alimentation, de l’Agriculture et de la Pêche en 2009.

Until quite recently, there has been a widespread belief in the popular media and scientific literature that the prevalence of childhood obesity is rapidly increasing. However, high quality evidence has emerged from several countries suggesting that the rise in the prevalence has slowed appreciably, or even plateaued. This review brings together su...

IntroductionThe underlying structure of eating behaviourInternal controls of food intakeThe pleasure response to foodsThe psychology of eatingEnvironmental determinants of food intakeConclusions Further reading

While sugar intake is inversely associated with nutritional status according to epidemiologic evidence, the specific contribution of sugar-sweetened drinks to energy balance and weight control has often been investigated. Epidemiologic evidence (cross-sectional, transversal) is ambiguous about the associations between intake of sugar-sweetened drin...

High viscosity fibre is known to exert many beneficial effects on appetite and metabolism. It could potentially help in weight management, in dieting or nondieting individuals. The present study investigated the effects of the daily intake of a novel high viscosity polysaccharide (HVP) over 3 months in nondieting obese or overweight men and women....

Satiety is a complex psycho-physiological mechanism that allows the adjustment of energy intake to expenditures. As such, it plays an important role among the numerous interacting mechanisms contributing to body weight control. Booth and Nouwen rightfully stress that satiety claims can be misleading and even dangerous when they are misrepresented o...

Sugar and sweetness are potent psycho-physiological stimuli capable of affecting several aspects of ingestive behaviours. An innate acceptance of sweet solutions appears in the human newborn before the first feeding experience. From the first years of life, the response to sweetness changes as a result of an individual’s experience with foods. In a...

The energy density (ED) of a food corresponds to its energy value per unit weight (or volume). The ED of a meal or of the overall diet could theoretically be defined using the same formula, but the contribution of liquids is a potential source of confusion. A high ED food brings much energy in a small volume (or weight) and creates relatively littl...

To assess the intake of fluid in healthy French children, adolescents, adults and seniors, considering amounts, types of beverages, time and place of consumption. Data regarding fluid intake were extracted and analyzed from the National Intake Survey, which was conducted in quota samples of the French population (Comportement et Consommations Alime...

Rapport de l'expertise scientifique collective

The mechanisms that determine food intake behavior in human consumers are more complex than those that govern this behavior in other species. Although “homeostatic” mechanisms that adjust intake to bodily needs do exist in humans as in other animals, the importance of non-homeostatic, mainly hedonistic, influences is much greater in humans. Several...

Numerous health benefits have been attributed to the 'Mediterranean diet' over the last decades. Selecting foods that were common in the Mediterranean regions (especially Crete) in the 1970s, with a frequent and abundant intake of fruit, vegetables, fish, olive oil and perhaps wine, has been reported to be associated with wide-ranging benefits incl...

Environmental conditions influence meal size in adults and children. Intake of sweet drinks could contribute significantly to energy intake and potentially affect body weight, particularly in young individuals. The objectives of the present study were to measure the lunch intake of food and drinks under controlled laboratory settings in teenagers a...

Many aspects of the motivation to eat are involved in the impairment of adequate food intake and body weight control. The aim of this study was to evaluate, by adopting widely used eating questionnaires, the Three Factors Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (TFEQ) and the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), the associations of different antipsyc...

In a previous study, we observed that the level of dietary restraint in normal-weight women moderated the stimulating effect of environmental stimuli on meal intake. The present study was designed to confirm and extend this observation. The influence of factors previously shown to affect meal size was investigated: presence of other people, televis...

Depuis près de 30 ans, divers questionnaires ont été développés et validés, afin de mesurer les attitudes et motivations susceptibles d’entraîner des perturbations de la prise alimentaire et d’affecter le contrôle pondéral. Quelques-uns de ces questionnaires sont brièvement présentés ici et les dimensions de la motivation à manger qu’ils examinent...