Doctor: Marc Bernard
Title: Association between time preferences, eating behavior, and obesity in the NutriNet-Santé cohort
Supervisor: Sandrine Peneau
Doctoral school: ED 146 Doctoral school Galilée, University Sorbonne Paris Nord
Date of thesis defense: 10/2018
Jury: Gérard Reach, Laurent Muller
Thesis summary:
ating behavior represents a major stake regarding public health because of its impact on noncommunicable diseases and more specifically obesity. Time preferences are psychological factors linked with self-regulation behaviors and could be associated with eating behavior and obesity. The main objective of this thesis was to study the relationship between time preferences, eating behavior, and obesity in a general population. Time preferences were assessed with questionnaires measuring impulsivity and consideration of future consequences. This work was conducted as part of the NutriNet-Santé study, which is a large web-based cohort. Impulsivity was associated with a lower diet quality, a higher snacking frequency, and eating disorders. A high level of consideration of future consequences was associated with greater concern for health and environment when choosing food, with a better diet quality and a higher contribution of organic foods in the diet. Impulsivity and a low consideration of future consequences were positively associated with obesity and quantitatively moderated the relationship between emotional eating and obesity. These results suggest that time preferences influence eating behavior and obesity, and bring new arguments in favor of the consideration of psychological determinants in public health prevention strategies.
