Regulating food craving: From mechanisms to interventions.

Introduction:
This text provides an overview of the concept of craving, with a focus on food craving, and discusses the significance of cue reactivity and craving in the context of the obesity epidemic. The authors present their work on the Regulation of Craving (ROC) task and the development of a cognitive training procedure based on this task. The review concludes with a discussion of the background and motivation for these studies and future directions for refining and disseminating this training.

Key Points:

* Craving is a strong desire, urge, or wanting for a particular substance or activity.
* Food craving predicts eating and weight gain.
* Cue reactivity and craving are learned responses that can lead to increased eating and weight gain.
* The authors developed the ROC task to measure the specific causal effect of regulation strategies on craving and the neural mechanisms underlying craving and its regulation.
* The ROC task has been used to demonstrate that cognitive strategies can be used effectively to regulate craving.
* The authors developed Regulation of Craving Training (ROC-T) as a novel and brief intervention to train individuals to use cognitive strategies to regulate craving and improve food choice.
* ROC-T has been shown to significantly increase healthy food choice and reduce caloric consumption.

Main Message:
This text highlights the importance of understanding the mechanisms underlying craving and the potential for cognitive strategies to regulate craving and improve food choice. The authors' development of the ROC task and ROC-T as a potential intervention for reducing unhealthy eating and improving food choice has the potential to have significant public health and clinical implications for the prevention and treatment of obesity and eating disorders.

Sun W, Kober h. Regulating food craving: From mechanisms to interventions. Physiology & behavior. 2020;222:112878. doi:10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.112878