Early associations with palatable foods in overweight and obesity are not disinhibition related but restraint related.

Obese people prefer and overconsume high-fat foods. At the same time they often attempt to lose weight. In two studies we investigated relations between palatable high-fat food words and disinhibition related concepts (study 1) and palatable high-fat food words and restraint related concepts (study 2) within the semantic priming paradigm. In study 1, 24 overweight/obese and 19 healthy weight women participated. There was no association between palatable high-fat food words and disinhibition. In study 2, 27 obese and 29 healthy weight women participated. The presentation of palatable high-fat food words facilitated the accessibility of restraint related concepts as hypothesized, but independent of weight status. Clearly, early associations with palatable high-fat food words are restraint related in both healthy weight and obese people.