Physiological and subjective responses to food cues as a function of smoking abstinence and dietary restraint

Dietary restraint is a characteristic associated with greater increase in food intake after smoking cessation, and salivation is a marker of physiological responsiveness to food that may be influenced by cessation. The present study examined the effect of brief smoking abstinence (16 h) vs. no abstinence on salivary and subjective responses to food taste cues in women smokers high vs. low in dietary restraint (n = 10 each). On each of two days (smoking abstinence vs. nonabstinence), salivary volume was assessed during each of 10 trials involving presentation of a small sample of strawberry yogurt. Decline in salivation over trials is indicative of habituation, or reduction in physiological responsiveness to taste cues, and may be a marker of satiety. Subjects also completed self-report measures of hunger, taste liking, desire for cigarette, and emotional arousal during each trial. A 10-min period of ad lib consumption of yogurt ended each session. Results showed significantly elevated salivary response to the first trial of taste exposure in high vs. low restraint women, especially on the smoking day. Moreover, salivary habituation was significantly disrupted by smoking abstinence, especially over the first 5 trials, in high restraint but not low restraint women. High restraint women also reported increasing desire for cigarette and emotional arousal across food taste trials on both days, while low restraint women reported no change in each over trials. There were no differences in ad lib yogurt consumption. These results indicate that brief smoking abstinence attenuates salivary habituation to taste in high restraint women, suggesting a marker for processes responsible for increased food intake after quitting smoking. Repeated exposure to food stimuli may also increase emotional distress in high restraint women smokers, enhancing desire to smoke.