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Gastric interoception, not cardiac interoception, predicts disordered eating behaviors across external, emotional, and restrained eating.
According to the findings of a new study, sensitivity to signals from the stomach—rather than the heart—may be the strongest predictor of disordered eating behaviors. The research focused on gastric interoception—the body’s ability to perceive internal sensations like hunger, fullness, and nausea—and compared it with cardiac interoception, or awareness of heartbeat-related signals. While both domains are part of the body’s internal sensing system, their specific contributions to eating behavior have remained unclear until now. Hence, this study explored the importance of cardiac and gastric interoception for disordered eating patterns in 128 participants (116 were women).
The group encompassed both healthy individuals (n = 87) and those with clinical or sub-clinical eating disorders (n = 41). Participants underwent a range of assessments, including a heartbeat counting task, electrocardiogram, electrogastrogram, the two-step Water Load Test, and the Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ). The analysis—using correlation studies, multiple regressions, and LASSO regression models—was ultimately conducted on a sample of 89 participants. Findings revealed that cardiac and gastric interoception are distinguishable processes, but not entirely independent.
Importantly, the data showed that gastric interoception, not cardiac interoception, was the strongest predictor of emotional, external, and restrained eating patterns. Among all gastric dimensions, gastric attribution of interoceptive sensations emerged as the most influential factor across different types of disordered eating behaviors. These findings highlight that the stomach’s signals, and how they are perceived, may be more central to disordered eating than the heart’s cues. Thus, gastric interoception should be prioritized in the assessment and treatment of eating disorders. Future research, the team noted, should integrate additional interoceptive dimensions to deepen understanding and refine targeted interventions.
Journal of Eating Disorders
The relevance of cardiac and gastric interoception for disordered eating behavior
Aline Tiemann et al.
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