Eating Behavior and Satiety With Virtual Reality Meals Compared With Real Meals: Randomized Crossover Study

• Published in: JMIR serious games 2023-08, Vol.11, p.e44348-e44348
• Main Authors: Glympi, Alkyoni, Odegi, Dorothy, Zandian, Modjtaba, Södersten, Per, Bergh, Cecilia, Langlet, Billy
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anorexia; Anxiety disorders; Binge eating; Body image; Bulimia; Clinical outcomes; Cognition & reasoning; Eating behavior; Eating disorders; Exercise; Food; Gastrointestinal surgery; Hunger; Meals; Medical equipment; Obesity; Original Paper; Post traumatic stress disorder; Self image; Virtual reality; Weight control
• ISSN: 2291-9279; 2291-9279
• DOI: 10.2196/44348

Eating disorders and obesity are serious health problems with poor treatment outcomes and high relapse rates despite well-established treatments. Several studies have suggested that virtual reality technology could enhance the current treatment outcomes and could be used as an adjunctive tool in their treatment. This study aims to investigate the differences between eating virtual and real-life meals and test the hypothesis that eating a virtual meal can reduce hunger among healthy women. The study included 20 healthy women and used a randomized crossover design. The participants were asked to eat 1 introduction meal, 2 real meals, and 2 virtual meals, all containing real or virtual meatballs and potatoes. The real meals were eaten on a plate that had been placed on a scale that communicated with analytical software on a computer. The virtual meals were eaten in a room where participants were seated on a real chair in front of a real table and fitted with the virtual reality equipment. The eating behavior for both the real and virtual meals was filmed. Hunger was measured before and after the meals using questionnaires. There was a significant difference in hunger from baseline to after the real meal (mean difference=61.8, P