Thoughts of social distancing experiences affect food intake and hypothetical binge eating: Implications for people in home quarantine during COVID-19

Social distance regulations have been suggested as one of the best ways to control and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Social connection and food are intertwined because both have played critical evolutionary roles in human survival. We tested whether the substitutability hypothesis in human motivation applies here in that cues signaling scarcity in one domain (e.g., social connection) might enhance the desire to acquire resources in another domain (e.g., food). We recruited 140 adults from Kaohsiung City (the largest city in southern Taiwan) to participate in a laboratory experiment. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either social distancing or neutral primes via an emotional-event recollection technique. The amount of ice cream eaten during a taste test and the self-reported likelihood of binge eating served as the dependent measures. We found that, compared with controls, participants primed with social distancing consumed more ice cream in a taste test and reported a greater likelihood that they would engage in binge eating if they were placed in home quarantine. We may be the first to provide experimental evidence that social distancing can enhance the desire for food. The link between social distancing and the desire for food is pertinent to understanding how strongly social distance regulations may influence weight gain. Our findings have far-reaching implications for weight control under social distance regulations for prevention and control of COVID-19. •Reminders of COVID-19 social distancing lead people to feel socially disconnected.•Primed with COVID-19 social distancing promotes the desire for food.•Social distance regulations may be closely associated with weight gain.