Postprandial Effects of a Hallucinatory Meal on Appetite Regulation

Overview

Several and complex mechanisms are involved in the regulation of appetite and food intake in humans. By means of rapid hypnosis techniques, it is possible to induce some individuals to hallucinate a meal. The same meal (breakfast) is administered as i) a real meal and ii) is evoked as a hallucination under hypnosis in healthy postmenopausal women. The aim of this pilot randomized-controlled cross-over trial is to assess appetite sensation and the blood levels of the appetite-related hormones in the participants.

The regulation of appetite is crucial to control food intake and consequently body weight. Hypnosis has been successfully used to modulate gastrointestinal functions, by imagining eating food. In the present pilot trial, the investigators search to investigate the effects a hallucinatory meal by hypnosis on subjective appetite and appetite hormone blood levels. Hence, two different breakfast meals are randomly administered to eight healthy postmenopausal women, in a crossover design, consisting of i) a hallucinatory breakfast meal (HB) and ii) a real breakfast meal (RB). On each test day, participants undergo baseline measurements, including appetite sensation and blood sample, then the test meal is hallucinated or served. Subjective appetite is assessed each 30 minutes for 4 hours and half, while blood samples are taken at 20', 60', 90' and 180 minutes. At the end of each session, participants are instructed to fill in a food record for the following 3-days.

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