Research out of Tufts university suggests that food craving are common in most people. The food we crave is not simply about fat or carbohydrates, its about calorie density. Those people who are most able to resist their food cravings, as opposed to trying to eliminate them, are most likely to be successfull in their weight loss program.

The Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging (USDA HNRCA) at Tufts University cunductied a 6 month calorie restriction study and in the process found indcations as to the nature of food cravings. At the beggining of the study approximately 91 percent of the program participants reported food cravings. More importantly at the end of the 6 month study, 94 percent of the participants reported the cravings. The one thing all of the cravings had in common were there relative calorie densty.

Roberts and colleagues observed that successful weight loss was related not only to how often people gave in to their cravings, but also to the types of foods they craved. “Participants with a higher percentage of weight loss actually craved foods with higher energy (calorie) density, compared with those who lost a lower percentage of body weight,” says Roberts, who is also a professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University. “Energy-dense foods, such as chocolate and some salty snacks, are those that pack the most calories per unit of volume,” explains Cheryl Gilhooly, PhD, MPH, research dietitian and first author of the study, “as compared to less energy-dense foods like fruits and vegetables, which have fewer calories per unit of volume.”

The study, which was part of the one-year CALERIE trial, involved 32 overweight but otherwise healthy women, 20 to 42 years of age, who were randomly assigned to two diets that differed in glycemic load, a measurement of how quickly the carbohydrates in a person’s diet are converted to blood sugar

“This is the first study of long-term changes in food cravings in a calorie-restriction program,” Roberts says. “If individuals understand that they can expect cravings and that those cravings will be for calorie-dense foods, it might help in their weight management. One thing to do is to substitute foods that taste similar but have fewer calories, since the craving can be satisfied by related tastes.”

Roberts and colleagues conclude that cravings for energy-dense foods are common. Although they caution that additional long-term studies are needed to confirm their findings, they write that their results “…suggest that people attempting to lose weight and maintain weight loss may benefit from advice to accept that food cravings may not decrease in frequency.” Controlling the frequency of giving in to cravings, rather than suppressing them, they say, may be an important area of emphasis in future weight control programs.