Millions of people undergo diets every now and then, but they continue to fail one way or another. A new study by researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology suggested that our craving and love for chocolates and other foods is actually linked to our personality.
The World Health Organization notes that around 1.4 billion people around the world are obese. Meanwhile, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that more than one-third of United States adults are obese.
In the study, which was published in the journal Appetite, the researchers discovered that extroverts, neurotic people and those who have disorganized personalities have the biggest risk of overeating and binge eating. In order to land to their findings, they sent out three questionnaires that dealt with aspects like eating habits, personality and food choices.
They compiled 1,000 responses into three questionnaires and the latter questionnaire was designed to identify five basic facets of their personality namely openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.
According to Carmen Keller, author of the study, in an interview with New York magazine, "We found that a person's personality does, in fact, determine why he or she eats and what he or she eats. A lack of conscientiousness leads people to eat impulsively and to lose self-control in the face of tempting food situations with palatable and nicely smelling and tasting food."
Due to extroverts always attending social gatherings, they would tend to eat more fatty foods or drink more alcoholic beverages. On the other hand, due to the neurotics' emotional side, they resort to overindulging themselves in eating to deal with their emotions. .
Oxford University and Cambridge University sent researchers to have the theory tested on 75 participants which contains 25 people from each group of personalities. Chris Dr van Tulleke said that these people do not have enough hormone called GLP1, which is responsible in telling the brain that you are already full.
He told Mail Online, "If you are someone who goes to an all-you-can-eat buffet and never feels full, then chances are you are a feaster."
He added that some people have genetic risk factors for being obese or overweight and this does not only entail one gene but lots of them. Some genes may influence the personality and some may influence appetite.
However, the study only dealt with Swiss people, thus it is seen as limited.
