The Effects of Satiety and Hunger on Normal, Overweight, and Obese BMI Ranges

Abstract

The purpose of this project was to determine if normal, overweight, and obese people experience different amounts of hunger before eating and satiety after eating. Our hypothesis is there are higher sensations of satiety, and lower sensations of hunger among Normal Weight than Overweight and Obese people. The study compared hunger and satiety levels before and after eating amongst normal, overweight, and obese Body Mass Index (BMI) categories using a Labeled Magnitude Scale (LMS). Forty-five subjects (29 normal, 13 overweight, and 3 obese) rated thirty phrases using LMS hunger and satiety scales. The scale was 100 mm in length having the intensity descriptors of hunger and fullness as follows: strongest imaginable sensation, extremely, very, moderately, slightly, barely detectable, no sensation. Because there were so few obese people, I grouped the overweight and obese answers to compare with the normal weight answers. The results for the first ten survey questions, which were situational hunger and fullness questions, typically showed overweight and obese people being hungrier than normal weight people, for example “how hungry/full do you feel after not have eaten for 24 hours.” Overweight and obese people were fuller than normal weight people when the scenarios were more geared towards fullness, for example, “after a complete Thanksgiving dinner.” The last twenty survey questions were specific food questions that displayed the overweight and obese people less hungry after eating the item in comparison to normal weight people. In addition, the averages of the overweight and obese people for the specific food questions presented the overweight and obese people being fuller than normal weight people after eating the various foods asked in the survey.