2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014 2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006

2024 & In Press

Lee, K. M. and Ghanei, B. & Tomiyama, A. J. (In press). A Brief Induction of Loving Kindness Meditation to Reduce Anti-Fat Bias. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4358728 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4358728

In 1 Bite: This study found that individuals reported higher empathy towards stigmatized higher weight individuals in the loving-kindness meditation and empathy conditions compared to control, yet were more likely to engage in stigmatizing behavior.

Figueroa, D. G., Parker, J. E., Hunger, J. M., Kraus, M. W., Muscatell, K.A., & Tomiyama, A. J. (In press). Social class stigma and poorer health behaviors: Evidence from the Eating in America Study. Social Science & Medicine.

In 1 Bite: Social class stigma (that’s discrimination based on income/education), was linked with poor health behaviors, no matter what a person’s actual income or education was.

Hunger, J. M., Montoya, A. K., Edrosolan, K., Tan, J., Hubbard, A. S., & Tomiyama, A. J. (in press). Ecological momentary assessment of weight stigma and eating behavior in everyday life. Annals of Behavioral Medicine.

In 1 Bite: People experienced weight stigma from family, strangers, media, themselves, and many other sources in everyday life. If they ate after experiencing weight stigma, they ate 45% more shortly after.

Chiu, D. T., Parker, J. E., Wiley, C. R., Epel, E. S., Laraia, B. L., Leung, C. W., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2024). Food Insecurity, Poor Diet, and Metabolic Outcomes: The Roles of Stress and Cortisol. Appetite.

In 1 Bite: Food insecurity isn’t just an economic issue – we found food insecurity was linked to more perceived stress and more high fat + high sugar food intake.

Chiu, D.T., Brown, E.M., Tomiyama, A.J., Brownell, K.E., Abrams, B., Mujahid, M.S., Epel, E.S., & Laraia, B.A. (2024). Adverse Childhood Experiences and BMI: Lifecourse Associations in a Black-White U.S. Women Cohort. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 66(1), 73–82.

In 1 Bite: Adverse childhood experiences like physical and sexual abuse were linked with higher body mass index across the lifespan. We also saw differences between Black and white women in the strength of the links.

2023

Lopez, A., Choi, A. K., Dellawar, N. C., Cullen, B. C., Contreras, S. A., Rosenfeld, D. L., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2023). Visual cues and food intake: A preregistered replication of Wansink, Painter, and North (2005). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 153(2), 275–281.

In 1 Bite: This was a replication of the famous “never ending soup bowl” study which had come under question. The study found that people are more soup if their bowls were self-refilling, and we found the same!

Keirns, N.G., Keirns, B.H., Tsotsoros, C.E., Layman, H.M., Stout, M.E., Sciarrilo C.M., Emerson, S.E., Byrd-Craven, J., Krems, J.A., Pearl, R.L., Tomiyama, A.J., & Hawkins, M.A.W. (2023). Pilot study of the acute inflammatory effects of weight stigma in women. Stigma and Health.

In 1 Bite: How does weight stigma harm health? Our pilot study suggests inflammation might be one answer.

Mezuk, B., Sin, N. L., Stanton, M. V., Szabo, Y. Z., Tomiyama, A. J., & White, K. E. (2023). The American Psychosomatic Society Antiracism Task Force: Implementation, activities, and lessons learned. Psychosomatic Medicine, 85(6), 466–473.

In 1 Bite: The American Psychosomatic Society reviews the progress of their Antiracism Task Force and outlines plans for the future.

Parker, J.E., Enders, C.K., Fitzpatrick, S.L., Mujahid, M.S., Laraia, B.A., Epel, E.S., Tomiyama, A.J. (2023). Longitudinal associations between adolescent skin color satisfaction and adult health outcomes in Black women. Health Psychology.

In 1 Bite: Black women’s skin color satisfaction in adolescence is associated with their body satisfaction across the lifespan which then influences their health outcomes in adulthood.

Segerstrom, S., Diefenbach, M., Hamilton, K., O’Connor, D.B., Tomiyama, A.J. & the Behavioral Medicine Research Council (2023). Open Science in Health Psychology and Behavioral Medicine: A Statement from the Behavioral Medicine Research Council. Simultaneously published in:

In 1 Bite: What’s Open Science, and why is it important for health psychology? Learn about how it helps transparency, integrity, and reproducibility of research.

Rosenfeld, D. L., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2023). Toward consumer acceptance of cultured meat. Trends in cognitive sciences, 27(8), 689–691.

In 1 Bite: This paper reviews why people are skeptical of lab-grown meat and suggests ways to boost consumer acceptance.

Tan, J., Wang, C., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2023). Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet and mental well-being: a systematic review. Nutrition reviews, nuad038. Advance online publication.

In 1 Bite: We found that diets low in salt and high in fruits and veggies might benefit people’s mental health, but more studies are needed.

Wiss, D, A., Prelip, M. L., Upchurch, D. M., von Ehrenstein O. S., Tomiyama, A. J., Gorbach, P. M., & Shoptaw, S. J. (2023). Association between Childhood Maltreatment and Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms among Men Who Have Sex with Men in Los Angeles.
J Urban Health.

In 1 Bite: Socially disadvantaged adult men were more likely to have depressive and anxiety symptoms if they experienced traumatic events during childhood, particularly childhood sexual abuse.

Rosenfeld, D. L., Rothgerber, H., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2023). When meat-eaters expect vegan food to taste bad: Veganism as a symbolic threat. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 0(0).

In 1 Bite: Veganism can seem to threaten familiar customs and traditions (e.g., eating turkey on Thanksgiving), and this perception of threat may motivate meat-eaters to reject vegan food and believe that it tastes bad.

Strings, S., Wells, C., Bell, C. N., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2023). The Association of BMI and Odds of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Varies by Race/Ethnicity. Public Health, 215, 27-30.

In 1 Bite: Across 20 years and more than 45,000 participants, we found that Body Mass Index isn’t as strongly related to diabetes in Black people as it is in white people.

Parker, J. E., Levinson, J. A., Hunger, J. M., Enders, C. K., Laraia, B. A., Epel, E. S., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2023). Longitudinal Stability of Disordered-Eating Symptoms From Age 12 to 40 in Black and White Women. Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, 11(5), 879–893.

In 1 Bite: Disordered eating at age 12? We found that Black and white girls’ symptoms followed them all the way into their 40s

2022

Rosenfeld, D. L.,* Brannon, T. N., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2022). Racialized perceptions of vegetarianism: Stereotypical associations that undermine inclusion in eating behaviors. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1461672221099392

In 1 Bite: Do racial stereotypes influence the likelihood of becoming vegetarian? Findings from four studies indicate that they might!

Parker, J. E.,* Enders, C. K., Mujahid, M. S., Laraia, B. A., Epel, E. S., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2022). Prospective relationships between skin color satisfaction, body satisfaction, and binge eating in Black girls. Body Image, 41, 342–353.

In 1 Bite: We found Black girls’ satisfaction with their skin color predicted Binge Eating Disorder symptoms. Body satisfaction seems to underlie the relationship.

Rosenfeld, D. L.,* Balcetis, E., Bastian, B., Berkman, E. T., Bosson, J. K., Brannon, T. N., Burrow, A. L., Cameron, C. D., Chen, S., Cook, J. E., Crandall, C., Davidai, S., Dhont, K., Eastwick, P. W., Gaither, S. E., Gangestad, S. W., Gilovich, T., Gray, K., Haines, E. L., Haselton, M. G., … Tomiyama, A. J. (2022). Psychological Science in the Wake of COVID-19: Social, Methodological, and Metascientific Considerations. Perspectives on psychological science, 17(2), 311–333.

In 1 Bite: A team of 50+ researchers reflect on the future of psychology research in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. What new questions will we be asking and how will we approach conducting research?

Wiss, D, A., Prelip, M. L., Upchurch, D. M., von Ehrenstein O. S., Tomiyama, A. J., & Shoptaw, S. J. (2022). Perceived social support moderates the association between household dysfunction adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and self-reported drug use among men who have sex with men in Los Angeles, CA. International Journal of Drug Policy, 110, 103899. doi:10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103899

In 1 Bite: Socially disadvantaged adult men were more likely to use drugs if they experienced things in childhood like a family member in jail or violence. However, social support was protectful.

Mayer, S. E., Guan, J., Lin, J., Hamlat, E., Parker, J. E., Brownell, K., Price C., Mujahid, M., Tomiyama, A. J., Slavich, G. M., Laraia, B. A., & Epel, E. S (in press). Transgenerational effects of maternal life stress exposure on offspring telomere length in Black and White women. Psychological Medicine.

In 1 Bite: Maternal stressors in pregnancy (particularly financial ones) were associated with shorter telomeres (indicating faster aging) in kids of white but not Black moms.

Standen, E. C., Finch, L. E., Tiongco-Hofschneider, L., Schopp, E., Lee, K. M., Parker, J. E., Bamishigbin, O. N., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2022). Healthy versus unhealthy comfort eating for psychophysiological stress recovery in low-income Black and Latinx adults. Appetite, 176, 106-140.

In 1 Bite: For low-income Black and Latinx adults, eating unhealthy comfort food worked just as well as eating a fruit/veggie or hanging out for 5 minutes for stress relief. Next time you’re feeling stressed, try reaching for something healthy!

Rosenfeld, D. L., Bartolotto, C., Tomiyama, A. J. (2022). Promoting plant-based food choices: Findings from a field experiment with over 150,000 consumer decisions. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 81, 101825.

In 1 Bite: This field experiment found that menu items at a restaurant were 24% more likely to sell when they were called “vegetarian” or “vegan” than when they were called “plant based.”

Rosenfeld, D. L., Tomiyama, A. J. (2022). Moral judgements of COVID-19 social distancing violations: The roles of perceived harm and impurity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 48, 766-781.

In 1 Bite: This series of studies found that vegetarianism is stereotypically associated with Whiteness. This stereotype may make vegetarians feel less inclusive to people of color.

Nagpal, T. S., Nippert, K. E., Velletri, M., Tomiyama, A. J., Incollingo Rodriguez, A. (2022). Close relationships as sources of pregnancy-related weight stigma for expecting and new mothers. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine. Accepted March 2022.

In 1 Bite: This study found that family & friends are a source of weight stigma by making judgemental comments about weight & body changes during pregnancy.

Rosenfeld, D. L., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2022). Would you eat a burger made in a petri dish? Why people feel disgusted by cultured meat. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 80, 101758.

In 1 Bite: This study found that 35% of meat-eaters and 55% of vegetarians think cultured meat is too disgusting to try eating, mainly because cultured meat seems unnatural.

Rosenfeld, D. L., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2022). Jab my arm, not my morality: Perceived moral reproach as a barrier to COVID-19 vaccine uptake. Social Science & Medicine, 294, 114699.

In 1 Bite: This study found that when unvaccinated people feel like they’re being labeled as immoral, they’re more likely to refuse to ever get vaccinated in the future.

Cummings, J. R., Schiestl, E., Tomiyama, A. J., Mamtora, T., & Gearhardt, A. N. (2022). Highly processed food intake and immediate and future emotions in everyday life. Appetite.

In 1 Bite: This study found that eating highly processed foods changes your emotions now and up to 1 hour after intake. This helps explain why highly processed foods are rewarding to us!

Wang, B., Zhao, C., Wang, Z., Yang, K. A., Cheng, X., Liu, W., Yu, W., Lin, S., Zhao, Y., Cheung, K. M., Lin, H., Hojaiji, H., Weiss, P. S., Stojanović, M. N., Tomiyama, A. J., Andrews, A. M., & Emamineejad, S. (2022). Wearable Aptamer Field-Effect Transistor Sensing System for Noninvasive Cortisol Monitoring. Science Advances.

In 1 Bite: Collecting cortisol data has always been expensive, imprecise, and time consuming. Here, we present a wearable wrist device that measures cortisol from sweat – in real time!

2021

Wiss, D. A.*, Brewerton, T. D., Tomiyama, A. J. (2021). Limitations to the protective measure theory in explaining the role of childhood sexual abuse in eating disorders, addictions, and obesity: An updated model with emphasis on biological embedding. Eating and Weight Disorders: EWD, 27(4), 1249–1267.

In 1 Bite: This review questions the idea that victims of sexual abuse may develop eating disorders as a “protective measure” against future abuse by through putting on weight.

Keirns, N. G.,* Tsotsoros, C. E., Addante, S., Layman, H. M., Krems, J. A., Pearl, R. L., Tomiyama, A. J., Hawkins, M. (2021). Adverse childhood experiences associated with greater internalization of weight stigma in women with excess weight. Obesities, 1(1), 49–57.

In 1 Bite: This pilot study found a potential link between adverse childhood experiences (also known as ACES) and internalization of weight stigma in women.

Hamlat, E. J., Laraia, B., Bleil, M. E., Deardorff, J., Tomiyama, A. J., Mujahid, M., Shields, G.S., Brownell, K., Slavich, G. M., & Epel, E. S. (2021). Effects of early life adversity on pubertal timing and tempo in Black and White girls: The National Growth and Health Study. Psychosomatic Medicine.

In 1 Bite: This study found that girls who experienced abuse in early life had more advanced pubertal development at age 10.

Finch, L. E., Cummings, J. R., Lee, S. C., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2021). A Pavlovian Intervention to Condition Comforting Effects of Fruits. Psychosomatic Medicine, 83(9), 1050-1057.

In 1 Bite: In this study, we repeatedly paired fruit with a relaxing activity. Then we found that just eating the fruit decreased negative mood!

Laraia, B. A., Leung, C., Tomiyama, A. J. Ritchie, L., Crawford, P. B., Epel, E. S. (2021). Drive for thinness in adolescents predicts greater adult BMI in the Growth and Health Study Cohort over 20 years. Obesity.

In 1 Bite: This study found that people who wanted to be thinner in childhood also wanted to be thinner in adulthood, but they ended up weighing more.

Lee, K. M., Arriola-Sanchez, L., Lumeng, J. C., Gearhardt, A., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2021). Weight Stigma by Association Among Parents of Children with Obesity: A Randomized Trial. Academic Pediatrics.

In 1 Bite: This study found that parents of children with higher weight were rated more negatively than parents of children of average weight.

Haderlein, T. P. & Tomiyama, A. J. (2021). Effects of Internet-delivered eating disorder prevention on reward-based eating drive: A randomized controlled trial. Eating Behaviors.

In 1 Bite: This study found that a dissonance-based internet intervention decreased reward-based eating drive.

Seitz, B. M., Tomiyama, A. J., & Blaisdell, A.P. (2021). Eating behavior as a new frontier in memory research. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 127, 795-807. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2021.05.024.

In 1 Bite: In this paper, Ben and Dr. T review the overlap between eating and memory and argue that memory evolved to help animals find food.

Nagpal, T. S., Tomiyama, A. J., & Incollingo Rodriguez, A. C. (2021). Beyond BMI: Pregnancy-related weight stigma increases risk of gestational diabetes. Primary Care Diabetes. 15(6), 1107-1109.

In 1 Bite: This study found that postpartum women who experienced more weight stigma were at more risk of developing diabetes during their pregnancy.

Rosenfeld, D. L. & Tomiyama, A. J. (2021). Moral Judgements of COVID-19 Social Distancing Violations: The Roles of Perceived Harm and Impurity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672211025433.

In 1 Bite: Through five experiments conducted through the pandemic, Daniel and Dr. T found that people in the U.S. — especially liberals — morally condemned social distancing violations because they seemed highly harmful and impure.

Rosenfeld, D. L., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2021). Gender differences in meat consumption and openness to vegetarianism. Appetite, 166, 105475.

In 1 Bite: In this study, Daniel and Dr. T found that conforming more strongly to traditional gender roles predicted greater meat consumption and lower openness to vegetarianism among men, but didn’t predict these outcomes at all among women.

Rosenfeld, D. L., Balcetis, E., Bastian, B., Berkman, E. T., Bosson, J. K., Brannon, T. N., Tomiyama, A. J. (2021). Psychological science in the wake of COVID-19: Social, methodological, and meta-scientific considerations. Perspectives on Psychological Science.

In 1 Bite: Daniel and Dr. T outline probable psychological implications of COVID-19. They discuss the considerations these impacts have for theory, methodology, and meta-scientific issues.

Lee, K. M., Hunger, J. M., Tomiyama, A. J. (2021). Weight stigma and health behaviors: evidence from the Eating in America Study. International Journal of Obesity.

In 1 Bite: In a national sample, Kristen, Jeff, and Dr. T found that 42% of Americans have dealt with weight stigma. And the more weight stigma people reported, the more disordered eating, comfort eating, alcohol use, and sleep disturbance they had.

Krizanova, J., Rosenfeld, D. L., Tomiyama, A. J. , & Guardiola, J. (in press) Pro-environmental behavior predicts adherence to plant-based diets. Appetite, 163, 105243.

In 1 Bite: Many people who try plant-based diets show low adherence. In this study, Daniel and Dr. T found that people who value a pro-environmental lifestyle are more likely to adhere strictly to a plant-based diet when they try one out.

Seitz, B. M., Blaisdell, A. P., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2021). Calories count: Memory of eating is evolutionarily special. Journal of Memory and Language, 117. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2020.104192.

In 1 Bite: Here we find the act of eating is better remembered than similar behaviors that do not involve eating and that higher calorie foods and foods eaten slowly are better remembered than lower calorie foods or foods eaten quickly. Understanding what influences memory of eating is important because enhanced memory of eating has been shown to reduce subsequent snacking and hunger.

Dinh, T., Gangestad, S. S., Emery Thompson, M., Tomiyama, A. J. , Fessler, D. M. T., Robertson, T. E., Haselton, M. G. (2021). Endocrinological effects of social exclusion and inclusion: Experimental evidence for adaptve regulation of female fecundity. Hormones and Behavior.

In 1 Bite: This study rested whether social exclusion by female peers influences women’s hormone levels. Results showed that when women lacked social support in their everyday lives, being socialy excluded led to elevated progesterone levels prior to ovulation, which is consistent with a reduced capacity to conceive.

Rosenfeld, D.L. & Tomiyama, A.J. (2021). Can a pandemic make people more socially conservative? Political ideology, gender roles, and the case of COVID-19. Journal of Applied Social Psychology.

In 1 Bite: Could the COVID-19 pandemic have changed people’s social attitudes? In the study, Daniel and Dr. T found that U.S. adults reported identifying with and supporting traditional gender roles more strongly during the pandemic than they did before the pandemic.

Rosenfeld, D.L., Rothgerber, H., & Tomiyama, A.J. (2021). From mostly vegetarian to fully vegetarian: Meat avoidance and the expression of social identity. Food Quality and Preference.

In 1 Bite: In this paper, Daniel and Dr. T examine the psychology of flexitarians– people who limit their meat intake partially, but still include meat in their diet. Findings suggest that, unique from what dietary motivations they have, how flexitarians construct social identity around their diet predict how open they are to becoming fully vegetarian.

2020

Tomiyama, A. J., Kawecki, N. S., Rosenfeld, D. L.,* Jay, J. A., Rajagopal, D., & Rowat, C. (2020). Bridging the gap between the science of cultured meat and public perceptions. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 104, 144-152.

In 1 Bite: Dr. T and colleagues discuss how scientists can help improve public opinion of cultured meat.

Incollingo Rodriguez, A. C.,* Dunkel Schetter, & Tomiyama, A. J. (2020). Weight stigma among pregnant and postpartum women: A new context of stigmatization. Stigma and Health, 5(2), 209-216.

In 1 Bite: We found that pregnant and postpartum women experience weight stigma regardless of their BMI prior to pregnancy. We also found that the weight stigma in pregnant and postpartum women face comes from multiple sources.

Hunger, J. M.,*Smith, J. P., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2020). An evidence-based rationale for adopting weight-inclusive health policy. Social Issues and Policy Review, 14(1), 73 – 107.

In 1 Bite: We challenge commonly held assumptions about the influence of weight and weight loss on health and advocate for more weight-inclusive health policies.

Rosenfeld, D. L.,* Rothgerber, H., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2020). Mostly vegetarian, but flexible about it: Investigating how meat-reducers express social identity around their diets. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11(3), 406-415.

In 1 Bite: “Flexitarians,” people who limit their meat consumption but still eat meat sometimes, may or may not identify as vegetarian.

Nippert, K.E., Tomiyama, A.J., Smieszek, S.M., & Incollingo Rodriguez, A.C. (2020). The media as a source of weight stigma for pregnant and postpartum women. Obesity.

In 1 Bite: The media plays a large role in daily life, so Angela and Dr. T looked into what weight stigma pregnant/postpartum women face. The results showed that pregnant and postpartum women commonly experience weight stigma via pressure to uphold beauty standards.

Incollingo Rodriguez, A.C., Smieszek, S.M., Nippert, K.E., & Tomiyama, A.J. (2020). Pregnant and postpartum women’s experiences of weight stigma in healthcare. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth.

In 1 Bite: Pregnant women visit the doctor a lot, so Angela and Dr. T looked into what kinds of weight stigma exists in maternal healthcare. Findings suggest that many women, nearly 1 in 5, experience weight stigma from healthcare providers and often face evaluative and negative comments about their weight.

Cummings, J.R, Ray, L.A., Nooteboom, P., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2020). Acute effect of eating sweets on alcohol cravings in a sample with at-risk drinking. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2019.104355

In 1 Bite: Aloholics Anonymous suggests that people eat sweets to allay the urge to drink. Result from this experiment, however, show that individuals with at-risk drinking who ate 150 or 450 calories of sweets (compared to those who did not) failed to have lower alcohol cravings.

Rosenfeld, D. L., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2020). Taste and health concerns trump anticipated stigma as barriers to vegetarianism. Appetite.

In 1 Bite: Qualitative evidence suggests that meat-eaters may resist going vegetarian out of fear of feeling stigmatized. This study by Daniel and Dr. T., however, suggests that anticipated vegetarian stigma is not a probable barrier to giving up meat.

2019

Cummings, J.R, Gearhardt, A. N., Ray, L. A., Choi, A. K., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2019). Experimental and observational studies on alcohol use and dietary intake: A systematic review. Obesity Reviews.

In 1 Bite: In this systematic review, we found that how alcohol use affects diet is not as simple as you might think. At low doses, alcohol has increased fat and protein intake. At high doses, however, alcohol has decreased refined carbohydrate intake.

Rosenfeld, D.L. & Tomiyama, A.J. (2019). When vegetarians eat meat: Why vegetarians violate their diets and how they feel about doing so. Appetite.

In 1 Bite: In this study, Daniel and Dr. T found that about half of vegetarians have eaten meat since going vegetarian. Results suggest that vegetarians are most likely to eat meat for social reasons while at family gatherings or on special occasions (e.g., weddings, holidays).

Incollingo Rodriguez, A.C., Dunkel Schetter, C., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2019). Weight stigma among pregnant and postpartum women: A new context of stigmatization. Stigma and Health.

In 1 Bite: Do pregnant and postpartum women experience weight stigma? The answer is yes! In this paper, Angela and Dr. T describe for whom, from whom, and how often pregnancy-related weight stigma occurs.

Cummings, J.R, Mamtora, T., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2019). Non-food rewards and highly processed food intake in everyday life. Appetite. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2019.104355

In 1 Bite: Might Music, art, or romance alleviate the need to turn to highly processed foods for pleasure? Unfortunately, results from this study suggest that experiencing pleasure from alternate sources encourages highly processed food intake.

Frederick, D.A., & Tomiyama, A.J. Bold, J., Saguy, A.C. (2019). Can she be healthy at her weight? Effects of news media frames on antifat attitudes, dieting intentions, and perceived health risks of obesity. Stigma and Health.

In 1 Bite: What kinds of news media messages about obesity promote weight stigma, and what kinds don’t? Dr. T answers this question with UCLA’s own Abigail Saguy (Sociology).

Incollingo Rodriguez, A.C., Dunkel Schetter, C., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2019). The psychological burden of baby weight: Pregnancy, weight stigma, and maternal health. Social Science & Medicine.

In 1 Bite: In another investigation of pregnancy-related weight stigma, Angela and Dr. T find that pregnant and postpartum women’s experiences of weight stigma are associated with depression, stress, unhealthy eating behavior and weight retention.

Rosenfeld, D. L., Rothgerber, H., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2019). Mostly vegetarian, but flexible about it: Investigating how meat-reducers express social identity around their diets. Social Psychological and Personality Science.

In 1 Bite: Suppose someone eats meat only a few times per month: How inclined might they be to self-identify as vegetarian? In this sstudy, Daniel and Dr. T found that meat-reducers vary greatly in how strongly they identify with vegetarianism, and that more of this variance is explained by meat-reducers’ moral ideologies than by their dietary behaviors.

Rosenfeld, D. L., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2019). How Proximal Are Pescatarians to Vegetarians? An Investigation of Dietary Identity, Motivation, and Attitudes Toward Animals. Journal of Health Psychology. doi:10.1177/1359105319842933

In 1 Bite: In study 1, Daniel and Dr. T examined differences between pescatarians and vegetarians (who don’t eat fish), with regards to dietary motivation, health attitudes, and attitudes toward animals. Study 2 examined identity aspects of pescetarianism.

Finch, L. E., Cummings, J. R., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2019). Cookie or clementine? Psychophysiological stress reactivity and recovery after eating healthy and unhealthy comfort foods. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 107, 26-36. doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2019.04.022

In 1 Bite: Feeling stressed? Grab your favorite fruit or veggie! This study showed that women’s psychological and physiological stress responses were the same regardless of whether they ate healthy comfort foods or traditional comfort foods high in calories, fat, or sugar.

Vainik, U., Han, J. E., Epel, E. S., Tomiyama, A. J., Dagher, A., & Mason, A. E. (2019). Rapid assessment of reward-related eating: The RED-X5. Obesity, 27(2), 325-331. doi:10.1002/oby.22374.

In 1 Bite: Dr. T and colleagues have come out with a shorter 5-item version of their questionnaire to measure reward-related eating.

Incollingo Rodriguez, A. C., Tomiyama, A. J., & Dunkel Schetter, C. (2019). Association of weight discrimination during pregnancy and postpartum with maternal postpartum health. Health Psychology, 38(3), 226-237. doi:10.1037/hea0000711.

In 1 Bite: In one of the first investigations of weight stigma in the context of pregnancy, Angela and Dr. T found that experiencing weight stigma during pregnancy was associated with postpartum depression and retention of baby weight.

Cummings, J. R., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2019). Food loves company: Risky eating increases interpersonal closeness. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 81, 61-69. doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2018.07.006

In 1 Bite: Jenna & Dr. T found that when young adults thought they were eating a high- versus low-calorie milkshake with their friend they felt closer with that friend. This was especially true for dieters.

Tomiyama, A. J. (2019). Stress and obesity. Annual Review of Psychology, 70, 703-718. doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-102936.

In 1 Bite: Stress and obesity – how are they linked? In this review, Dr. T traces all the pathways that tie the two, including how obesity itself can be stressful by inducing weight stigma.

2018

Incollingo Rodriguez, A. C., White, M. L., Standen, E. C., Mann, T., Wells, C. R., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2018). Body mass index and educational inequality: An update of Crandall (1995). Stigma and Health. doi:10.1037/sah0000149

In 1 Bite: Research from 1991 found that heavier students may have a harder time paying for college. Is that still the case? Angela, Megan, and Erin updated these findings.

Cummings, J.R., Tomiyama, A. J., & Ray, L. A. & (2018). Does the neuroimmune modulator ibudilast alter food craving? Results in a sample with alcohol use disorder. Journal of Addiction Medicine, 12(5), 410-417. PMID: 29794557

In 1 Bite: Jenna & Dr. T teamed up with Dr. Lara Ray to test whether a medication that may reduce alcohol use might also affect eating. They found that the medication did not suppress food craving but increased high-fat/high-sugar food craving when individuals were stressed.

Hunger, J.M., & Tomiyama, A. J. & (2018). Weight labeling and disordered eating among adolescent females: Longitudinal evidence from the NHLBI Growth and Health Study. Journal of Adolescent Health, 63(3), 360-362. PMID: 29705495

In 1 Bite: We know that being told you’re “too fat” is associated with weight gain over time. In this study, Jeff and Dr. T examined whether being told this might also increase disordered eating over time.

Oldham, M., Tomiyama, A. J., & Robinson, E. & (2018). The psychosocial experience of feeling overweight promotes increased snack food consumption in women but not men. Appetite, 128, 283-293. PMID: 29883685

In 1 Bite: In a replication of Angela’s study, this paper shows that fat suits lead to snack eating in women but not men. The reasons for that, though, are still unclear.

See also this pre-print where we didn’t find any effect of fat suits on alcohol consumption with eating, and also click here for meta-analysis estimates and a forest plot that combines all fat suit data. It seems that wearing a fat suit has a small-to-medium effect (SMD = 0.27) on eating.

Tomiyama, A. J., Carr, D., Granberg, E. M., Major, B., Robinson, E., Sutin, A. R., & Brewis, A. (2018). How and why weight stigma drives the obesity ‘epidemic’ and harms health. BMC Medicine, 16(23). doi:10.1186/s12916-018-1116-5

In 1 Bite: Targeting a healthcare audience, Dr. T and a team of leading weight stigma researchers review the harmful aspects of weight stigma.

Cummings, J.R., Mason, A.E., Puterman, E., & Tomiyama, A. J. & (2018). Comfort Eating and All-Cause Mortality in the US Health and Retirement Study. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 25(4), 473-478. doi: 10.1007/s12529-017-9706-8.

In 1 Bite: Does comfort eating predict an earlier death? Jenna, Janet, and collaborators Eli and Ashley found that older adults who comfort ate actually had lower odds of mortality.

Cummings, J.R., & Tomiyama, A. J. & (2018). Bidirectional associations between eating and alcohol use during restricted intake. Current Addiction Reports, 5(2), 243-250. doi: 10.1007/s40429-018-0180-4

In 1 Bite: Jenna & Dr. T review prior work suggesting that if you quit drinking alcohol you may eat more, and, reciprocally, if you diet you might drink more. They also developed a model for future research.

2017

Incollingo Rodriguez, A. C.,* Heldreth, C. M., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2017). Response to: Why fat suits do not advance the scientific study of weight stigma. Obesity, 25(2), 276 – 276.

In 1 Bite: We address concerns regarding our study which tested the use of fat suits as a potential way to help decrease anti-fat attitudes.

Alcalá, H.E., Tomiyama, A. J., & von Ehrenstein, O.S. (2017). Gender Differences in the Association between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Cancer. Women’s Health Issues, 27(6), 625-631. doi: 10.1016/j.whi.2017.06.002.

In 1 Bite: In this paper, Drs. Alcalá, T and von Ehrenstein find that childhood adversities are associated with cancer risk. However, women seem to be disproportionately affected.

Finch, L.E., Tomiyama, A. J., & Ward, A. (2017). Taking a stand: The effects of standing desks on task performance and engagement. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(8), 795-809. doi: 10.3390/ijerph14080939.

In 1 Bite: Standing desks may reduce sedentary behavior, but are they conducive for work? Laura, Janet, and Andrew look at effects on reading comprehension, creativity, and engagement.”

Incollingo Rodriguez, A. C., Rodriguez, A., Callahan, L. C., Saxbe, D., & Tomiyama, A.J. (2017). The buddy system: A randomized controlled experiment of the benefits and costs of dieting in pairs. Journal of Health Psychology. doi: 10.1177/1359105317709514.

In 1 Bite: We all know that dieting is hard. In this study, the team examined whether dieting might be easier and less stressful when using the diet “buddy system.”

Mason, A. E., Vainik, U., Acree, M., & Tomiyama, A. J., Dagher, A., Epel, E. S., Hecht, F. M. (2017). Improving Assessment of the Spectrum of Reward-Related Eating: The RED-13. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 795-809.

In 1 Bite: How rewarding is food? This paper proposes improvements to our previously created scale to measure how eating behaviors are rewarding.

Cummings, J. R., Ray, L. A. & Tomiyama, A. J. (2017). Food-alcohol competition: As young females eat more food, do they drink less alcohol? Journal of Health Psychology, 22(5), 674-683. doi: 10.1177/1359105315611955

In 1 Bite: Can gluttony rival lush behavior? Grad student Jenna, addictions researcher Dr. Lara Ray, & Dr. T found that when girls ate more sweet high-fat & fast foods they drank less alcohol.

Tomiyama, A. J., Milush, J. M., Lin, J., Flynn, J. M., Kapahi, P., Verdin, E., Sinclair, E., Melov, S., Epel, E. S. (2017). Long-term calorie restriction in humans is not associated with indices of delayed immunologic aging: A descriptive study. Nutrition and Healthy Aging, 4(2), 147-156. PMID: 28447069

In 1 Bite: Calorie restriction dramatically extends lifespan in other species, but will it work in humans? At least in terms of the immune system, it doesn’t seem like it.

Ahlstrom, B., Dinh, T., Haselton, M. G., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2017). Understanding eating interventions through an evolutionary lens. Health Psychology Reviews, 11(1), 72-88. doi: 10.1080/17437199.2016.1260489.

In 1 Bite: Can an evolutionary perspective help health psychologists design more effective eating interventions and policies? This article describes how!

2016

Alcalá, H.E., von Ehrenstein, O.S., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2016). Adverse childhood experiences and use of cigarettes and smokeless tobacco products. Journal of Community Health. PMID: 27000040

In 1 Bite: Do childhood adversities impact tobacco use? Drs. Alcalá, von Ehrenstein and Dr. T find that some childhood adversities are associated with increased tobacco product use among US adults.

Incollingo Rodriguez, A. C., Heldreth, C. M., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2016). Putting on weight stigma: A randomized study of the effects of wearing a fat suit on eating, well-being, and cortisol. Obesity, 24(9), 1892-1898. PMID: 27465666

In 1 Bite: Ever wondered what life is like for people who are heavy? In this study Angela, Courtney, and Dr. T put participants in a fat suit to see how it affected their feelings, eating, and antifat attitudes.

Tomiyama, A. J., Hunger, J. M., Nguyen-Cuu, J., & Wells, C. (2016). Misclassification of cardiometabolic health when using body mass index categories in NHANES 2005–2012. International Journal of Obesity. doi: 10.1038/ijo.2016.17. PMID: 26841729

In 1 Bite: Is BMI a good measure of health? Dr. T, Jeff, and Jolene found that an estimated 54 million US adults are classified as cardiometabolically unhealthy when they’re not.

2015

Incollingo Rodriguez, A. C., Epel. E. S., White, M. L., Standen, E. C., Seckl., J. R., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2015). Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis dysregulation and cortisol activity in obesity: A systematic review. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 62, 301-318. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2015.08.014

In 1 Bite: Cortisol and obesity – is there a link? In this review, grad student Angela, undergrads Erin Standen and Megan White, and Dr. T find that the literature is messier than you’d think.

Hunger, J. M. & Tomiyama, A. J. (2015). A call to shift the public health focus away from weight. American Journal of Public Health.

In 1 Bite: In this Letter to the Editor, Jeff and Dr. T argue that it’s time to stop focusing on weight and start focusing on actual indicators of health.

Finch, L. E. & Tomiyama, A. J. (2015). Comfort eating, psychological stress, and depressive symptoms in young adult women. Appetite, 95, 239-244. PMID: 26192221

In 1 Bite: Does comfort eating actually comfort? Laura & Dr. T found that comfort eating can buffer the impact of negative life experiences on psychological stress, but only for non-depressed women.

Puterman, E., Prather, A. A., Epel, E. S., Loharuka, S., Adler, N. E., Laraia, B. A., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2015). Exercise mitigates cumulative associations between stress and BMI in girls age 10-19. Health Psychology, PMID: 26301595

In 1 Bite: In this prior paper, Dr. T found that long-term stress is related to long-term BMI gain. Now, the team finds that exercise can break that link.

[All authors made equal contributions] Mann, T., Tomiyama, A. J., & Ward, A (2015). Promoting public health in the context of the “obesity epidemic”: False starts and promising new directions. Perspectives on Psychological Science.

In 1 Bite: Several misconceptions about obesity have held us back when promoting health. This paper debunks those and offers suggestions for new policy initiatives.

Himmelstein, M. S. & Tomiyama, A. J. (2015). It’s not you, it’s me: Self-perceptions, antifat attitudes and stereotyping of obese individuals. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 6(7), 749-757. 1948550615585831.

In 1 Bite: Where do all these negative attitudes toward heavy individuals come from? This paper suggests that people’s thoughts and feelings about their own bodies influences antifat attitudes.

Incollingo Rodriguez, A. C., Finch, L. E., Buss. J., Guardino, C. M., & Tomiyama, A.J. (2015). An experimental field study of weight salience and food choice. Appetite, 89, 215-218. PMID: 25698080

In 1 Bite: In a world where weight is on everyone’s minds, how might just seeing an image of an overweight person influence how we eat? In this field study, the DiSH team attempts to answer that question.

Giuliani, N. R., Tomiyama, A. J., Mann, T., & Berkman, E. T. (2015). Prediction of daily food intake as a function of measurement modality and restriction status. Psychosomatic Medicine, 77(5), 583-590. PMID: 25984820

In 1 Bite: Brain scans versus self-report – what’s the better measure? As usual – it depends! This paper describes what predicts eating in everyday life, and how dieting fits in.

Incollingo Rodriguez, A. C., Tomiyama, A. J., Ward, A.(2015). What does weight stigma smell like? Cross-modal influence of visual weight cues on olfaction. International Journal of Obesity. 39(6), 1030-1032. PMID: 25649689.

In 1 Bite: Using a tricky manipulation, Angela, Dr. T, and Andrew Ward found that people perceived scents as less appealing when in the presence of an image of a heavy individual versus a thin one.

Tomiyama, A. J., Finch, L. E., & Cummings, J. R. (2015). Did that brownie do its job? Stress, eating, and the biobehavioral effects of comfort food. Invited contribution (peer-reviewed) to Emerging Trends in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, R. Scott & S. Kosslyn, Eds. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons

In 1 Bite: Dr. T and DiSH Lab Grad Students Laura and Jenna review the existing research on the phenomenon of “comfort eating,” offering insightful future areas for research.

Himmelstein, M.S, Incollingo Belsky, A. C., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2015). The weight of stigma: Cortisol reactivity to manipulated weight stigma. Obesity, 23(2), 368-374. PMID: 25522347

In 1 Bite: Do you have to be overweight to experience the stress of weight stigma? This paper says no! And that weight stigma can actually affect your stress hormone levels.

Lowry, D.W., Tomiyama, A. J. (2015). Air displacement plethysmography versus dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry in underweight, normal-Weight, and overweight/obese individuals. PLOS One, 10(1). PMID: 25607661.

In 1 Bite: The BodPod is a neat device that lets you estimate body fat. But is it accurate at the extremes of body size? This paper suggests that, especially for very thin individuals, it might not be.

2014

Tomiyama, A. J., Finch, L. E., Incollingo Belsky, A. C., Buss, J., Finley, C., Schwartz, M. B., & Daubenmier, J. (2014). Weight bias in 2001 versus 2013: Contradictory attitudes among obesity researchers and health professionals. Obesity, 23, 46-53. PMID: 25294247

In 1 Bite: This study indicates that weight stigma is still widespread today. There’s hope for the future, however, as some forms of weight bias have declined since 2001.

Aschbacher, K., Rodriguez-Fernandez, M., van Wietmarschen, H., Jain, S., Epel, E.S., Tomiyama, A. J., Doyle, F., & van der Greef, J. (2014). The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-leptin axis and metabolic health: A systems approach to resilience, robustness and control. Interface Focus, 4(5), 20140020. PMID: 25285198

In 1 Bite: Borrowing concepts from engineering, this paper looks at how our stress and metabolic systems function as a whole, intertwined system.

Tomiyama, A. J. (2014). Weight stigma is stressful: A review of evidence for the Cyclic Obesity/Weight-Based Stigma Model. Appetite, 82, 8-14. PMID: 24997407

In 1 Bite: Weight stigma feels bad, but could it even result in weight gain? Dr. T constructs a model to explain this vicious cycle.

Tomiyama, A. J., Epel, E. S., McClatchey, T. M., Poelke, G., Kemeny, M. E., McCoy, S., & Daubenmier, J. (2014). Associations of weight stigma with cortisol and oxidative stress independent of adiposity. Health Psychology, 33, 862-867. PMID: 25068456

In 1 Bite: Can weight stigma get under our skin? This study examines the relationship between weight stigma and biological stress and long-term cellular aging.

[First two authors made equal contributions] Epel, E. S., Tomiyama, A. J., Mason, A. E., Laraia, B. A., Hartman, W., Ready, K., Acree, M., Adam, T. C., St. Jeor, S., & Kessler, D. (2014). The reward-based eating drive scale: A self-report index of reward-based eating. PLOS One, 9(6). PMID: 24979216

In 1 Bite: Food might be addictive, just like other rewarding substances like alcohol or drugs. In this paper, you can take a 9-question test to see how rewarding food is to you.

Incollingo Belsky, A. C., Epel, E. S., & Tomiyama, A. J. (2014). Clues to maintaining calorie restriction? Psychosocial profiles of successful long-term restrictors. Appetite, 79, 106-112. PMID: 24747211

In 1 Bite: What makes a good dieter? Dr. T, Elissa Epel, and DiSH Lab Grad Student Angela Incollingo Belsky take a look at successful dieters to see if certain qualities are key to dieting success.

Hunger, J. M., & Tomiyama, A. J., (2014). Weight labeling and obesity: A 10-year longitudinal study of girls aged 10-19. Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics, 168(6), 579-580. PMID: 24781349

In 1 Bite: This paper explains a surprising finding about the long-term consequences of calling someone “fat.”

Giuliani, N. R., Mann, T., Tomiyama, A. J., & Berkman, E. T. (2014). Neural systems underlying the reappraisal of personally-craved foods. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 7, 1390-1402. PMID: 24392892

In 1 Bite: Ever wonder what is going on in our our brains when we can’t resist that delicious treat? This study highlights the brain regions underlying self-regulation and food cravings.

2013

Tomiyama, A. J., Ahlstrom, B., & Mann, T. (2013). Evaluating eating behavior treatments by FDA standards. Frontiers in Psychology, 4, 1009. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.01009. PMID: 24427153

In 1 Bite: Would dieting pass the FDA’s standards as a viable treatment for obesity? Probably not, according to this article.

Tomiyama, A. J., Ahlstrom, B., & Mann, T. (2013). Long-term effects of dieting: Is weight loss related to health? Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(12), 861-877.

In 1 Bite: Does losing weight improve health? This review examines the dieting literature and finds a surprising (and controversial) answer to this question.

Tomiyama, A. J., & Mann, T. (2013). If shaming reduced obesity, there would be no fat people. Hastings Center Report, 43, 4-5. PMID: 23650055

In 1 Bite: Dr. T. and Traci Mann respond to Daniel Callahan’s controversial claim that weight stigma can reduce obesity.

Tomiyama, A. J., Puterman, E., Epel, E., Rehkopf, D., & Laraia, B. A. (2013). Chronic psychological stress and racial disparities in Body Mass Index change between black and white girls aged 10-19. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 45, 3-12. PMID: 22993022

In 1 Bite: Using the big difference in obesity rates between Black and White females as a starting point, this study looks at race as a component in the stress-obesity link over a 10-year time period.

2012

Tomiyama, A. J. (2012). Beyond interventions: Caloric restriction as a scientific model. Psychosomatic Medicine, 74(6), 665-666. PMID: 22753628

In 1 Bite: This paper discusses calorie restriction’s impact on the life span, focusing on long-term human calorie restrictors and their unique success with lasting eating behavior change.

[First two authors made equal contributions] Tomiyama, A. J., Schamarek, I., Lustig, R. H., Kirschbaum, C., Puterman, E., Havel, P. J., & Epel, E. S. (2012). Leptin concentrations in response to acute stress predict subsequent intake of comfort foods. Physiology & Behavior, 107, 34-39. PMID: 22579988

In 1 Bite: How can you avoid stress eating? This study focuses on the role of a certain hormone, leptin, in making you eat less even when you’re stressed out.

Tomiyama, A. J., O’Donovan, A., Lin, J., Puterman, E., Lazaro, A., Chan, J. K., Dhabar, F., Wolkowitz, O., Kirschbaum, C., Blackburn, E., & Epel, E. S. (2012). Does cellular aging relate to patterns of allostasis? An examination of basal and stress reactive HPA axis activity and telomere length. Physiology & Behavior, 106, 40-45. PMID: 22138440

In 1 Bite: This study looks at how stress might get under the skin to make us age faster.

O’Donovan, A., Tomiyama, A. J., Lin, J., Puterman, E., Kemeny, M., Wolkowitz, O., Blackburn, E., & Epel, E. S. (2012). Stress appraisals and cellular aging: A key role for anticipatory threat in the relationship between psychological stress and telomere length. Brain Behavior and Immunity, 26(4), 573-579. PMID: 22293459

In 1 Bite: Can our thoughts influence aging? This study looks at the way we respond to upcoming stressful situations and whether that is related to cellular aging.

2011

Tomiyama, A. J., & Mann, T. (2011). Commentary on Crum, Corbin, Brownell, And Salovey (2011). Health Psychology.

In 1 Bite: Dr. T. and Traci Mann comment on the surprising findings in Mind over milkshakes: mindset, not just nutrients, determine ghrelin response, research by Crum and colleagues.

Tomiyama, A. J., Dallman, M. F., & Epel, E. S. (2011). Comfort food is comforting to those most stressed: Evidence of the chronic stress response network in high stress women. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 36, 1513-1519. PMID: 21906885.

In 1 Bite: Dr. T finds that really stressed out people do more comfort eating – plus they have lower cortisol responses to stress, and lower cortisol levels in general.

Prather, A. A. Puterman, E., Lin, J., O’Donovan, A., Krauss, J., Tomiyama, A. J., Epel, E.S., & Blackburn, E. H. (2011). Shorter leukocyte telomere length in midlife women with poor sleep quality. Journal of Aging Research, 2011, 721390. PMID: 22046530

In 1 Bite: Could tossing and turning make you older? This study looks at the relationship between sleeping poorly and cellular aging.

Puterman, E., O’Donovan, A., & Adler, N. E., Tomiyama, A.J., Kemeny, M. E., Epel, E. S. (2011). Physical activity moderates effects of stressor-induced rumination on cortisol reactivity. Psychosomatic Medicine, 73, 604-611. PMID: 21873586

In 1 Bite: Exercise your stress away: this study investigates the positive impact of a physically active lifestyle in dealing with stress.

2010

Tomiyama, A. J., Mann, T., Vinas, D., Hunger, J. M., DeJager, J., & Taylor, S. E. (2010). Low calorie dieting increases cortisol. Psychosomatic Medicine, 72, 357-364. PMID: 20368473

In 1 Bite: Is dieting stressful? Oprah says yes, and so does this study that shows that dieting increases both mental stress and the stress hormone cortisol.

Tomiyama, A. J. & Dallman, M. F. (2010). The cortisol-cortisone shuttle in caloric restriction. Psychosomatic Medicine, 72, 599-600. PMID: 20595418

In 1 Bite: Dr. T and Mary Dallman respond to criticism that they didn’t measure all of the hormones they should have in their “Low Calorie Dieting Increases Cortisol” study.

Frosch, D. L., Saxbe, D., Tomiyama, A. J., Glenn, B. A., Low, C. A., Hanoch, Y., Motivala, S.J., Meeker, D. (2010). Assessing the scholarly impact of Health Psychology: A citation analysis of articles published from 1993 to 2003. Health Psychology, 29(5), 555-562. PMID: 20836611

In 1 Bite: Checking up on Health Psychology’s sphere of influence, this paper counts up how often the journal’s articles make it into other articles in psychology, medicine, and health.

2009

Tomiyama, A. J., Moskovich, A., Byrne Haltom, K., Ju, T., & Mann, T. (2009). Consumption after a diet violation: Disinhibition or compensation? Psychological Science, 20(10), 1275-1281. PMID: 19732383

In 1 Bite: Breaking your diet may not lead to total failure! This study tests to see whether dieters can control their eating outside a lab setting after violating the rules of their diet.

Tomiyama, A. J., Mann, T., Comer, L. (2009). Triggers of eating in everyday life. Appetite, 52, 72-82. PMID: 18773931

In 1 Bite: This study takes eating out of the lab and into the real world, using hourly reports to identify eating triggers in the context of everyday life.

2008

Motivala, S. J., Tomiyama, A. J., Ziegler, M., Khandrika, S., & Irwin, M. R. (2008). Nocturnal levels of ghrelin and leptin and sleep in chronic insomnia. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 34(4), 540-545. PMID: 19059729

In 1 Bite: Can a lack of zzz’s increase your lbs.? This study measures hormone levels in chronic insomnia patients to explore how sleep deprivation might impact energy regulation and weight.

Tomiyama, A.J., & Mann, T. (2008). Focusing on weight is not the answer to America’s obesity epidemic. American Psychologist, 63, 203-204. PMID: 18377114

In 1 Bite: Dr. T and Traci Mann respond to criticism of their claim that “Diets are not the Answer” to obesity, reaffirming the importance of a focus on direct measures of health instead of weight in general.

Tomiyama, A. J., & Mann, T. (2008). Cultural factors in collegiate eating disorder pathology: When family culture clashes with individual culture. Journal of American College Health. 57(3), 309-314. PMID: 18980887

In 1 Bite: Is a close family always a good thing? This paper looks at families from different cultures to explore the link between extreme family closeness and symptoms of eating disorders.

2007

Mann, T., Tomiyama, A.J., Lew, A.M., Westling, E., Chatman, J., & Samuels, B. (2007). Medicare’s search for effective obesity treaments: Diets are not the answer. American Psychologist, 62, 220-233. PMID: 17469900

In 1 Bite: Is dieting really an effective treatment for obesity? This is a review of the long-term outcomes of calorie-restricting diets to see if diets really lead to lasting weight loss or health benefits.

Yancey, A. K., & Tomiyama, A.J. (2007). Physical activity as primary prevention to address cancer disparities. Seminars in Nursing Oncology, 23(4), 253-263. PMID: 18022053

In 1 Bite: What is the link between exercise and cancer? This study looks at whether exercising can reduce your risk of cancer, especially if you are part of an underserved population.

2006

Keller, H., Lamm, B., Abels, M., Yovsi, R., Jensen, H., Papligoura, Z., Holub, C., Lo, W., Tomiyama, A. J., Su, Y., Wang, Y., Chaudary, N (2006). Cultural models, socialization goals, and parenting ethnotheories: A multi-cultural analysis. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37. 155-172. DOI: 10.1177/0022022105284494

In 1 Bite: This paper considers different cultural beliefs from around the globe and how they may or may not affect parenting styles.