The Biobehavioral Impact of Diet Quality on Affect and Craving

Study Summary

The current study experimentally investigates whether reducing highly processed (HP) foods (defined in this study as foods high in added sugars) leads to, psychological and / or behavioral indicators of withdrawal. The following hypotheses are tested: 1. To test the hypothesis that reducing highly processed food intake will result in higher daily reports of physical (e.g. headaches), cognitive (e.g. difficulty concentrating), and affective (e.g., irritability) withdrawal symptoms). 2. To test the hypothesis that reducing highly processed food intake will result in increased negative affect (e.g., irritability, depression) as indicated by and psychological (self - reported distress ratings; daily emotion / mood reports) measures. 3. To test the hypothesis that reducing highly processed food intake will result in increased food craving as indicated by psychological (self - report craving ratings; daily craving report) measures. All activities are completed remotely. Participants complete 4 phone appointments with a trained member of the research team. Daily questionnaires and ecological momentary assessments are completed at home between phone appointments. The initial call signs electronic consent and gets baseline measurements (questionnaires). After the initial call, participants start an active assessment period (pre / post dietary change assessments). Pre-dietary change includes at home questionnaires and ecological momentary assessments while eating a typical diet. It also includes the second phone appointment. Post-dietary change includes at home questionnaires and ecological momentary assessments while consuming 3 days of food portions lower in highly processed foods. Participants will complete a food journal on the remaining 2 days of post - dietary change assessment to report what food they ate. Post - dietary change also includes the third phone appointment. The second and third phone appointments each include computer tasks and questionnaires. The final

Primary Outcome

The PRoWS is a validated self-report measure of indicators of withdrawal. Affective withdrawal symptoms are measured by asking participants to complete the Highly Processed Food Withdrawal Scale (PRoWS), which is a validated self-report measure of withdrawal. PRoWS questions ask about current feelings / emotions. Response options are "strongly disagree" "disagree" "feel neutral" "agree" and "strongly agree". Participants are asked to complete these measures every day of the pre and post dietary

Interventions

• BEHAVIORAL Dietary Change (low in highly processed foods)