Sweets and fats tasting in patients with anorexia nervosa: the role of the thought-shape fusion cognitive distortion.

Introduction: It has been found that the olfactorygustatory function is altered in patients with eating disorders, with an impairment affecting the perception of olfactory and gustatory stimuli.

Objective: The aim was to explore the subjective reactivity after the exposure and tasting of foods with different gradient of sweetness and different fats textures. In addition, changes in the thought-shape fusion (TSF) cognitive distortion were assessed after tasting those different presentations as well as the correlations between the initial scores on TSF-Questionnaire (TSF-Q) and the different responses after that tasting.

Method: A total of 15 healthy controls and 23 outpatients with anorexia nervosa underwent two sessions of tasting (sweets with different gradient of sweetness and fats with different textures) and they filled several questionnaires (pre- and post-tasting) to measure their responses after tasting.

Results: Participants showed less "self-control" after tasting sweets. The score on TSF-Q increased significantly after the sweets tasting in the patients group. Patients had the worst response after tasting presentations with more quantity of glucose (less gradient of sweetness) than after tasting those with more amount of sucrose (much more sweetness). With respect to the fats, patients showed the worst reaction after tasting the most unfamiliar texture. Pre fats tasting TSF-Q scores correlated significantly with all responses in the patients group.

Discussion: Both psychological and biological (e.g. genetic) factors could be involved in the reactions of patients with anorexia nervosa after tasting sweets and fats.