Avaliação da neofobia alimentar, imagem corporal e autoestima de adultos submetidos à cirurgia bariátrica

Abstract

Obesity, characterized by excessive accumulation of adipose tissue, is considered a serious public health problem and increasingly reaches the adult population. Bariatric surgery (BS) has proven to be an effective method for the treatment of obesity, but this procedure can cause significant changes in perception and body satisfaction, self-esteem and in the eating behavior. After surgery, some people often have difficulties in including unfamiliar foods in their diet, which may characterize food neophobia (FN), defined as reluctance to eat unfamiliar foods. In this sense, the aim of this study was to evaluate the explicit and implicit FN, body image and self-esteem of adults undergoing BS. This research is composed by 3 studies. In Study 1, a cross-sectional correlational study was carried out with 140 adults, both sexes, applying the Food Neophobia Scale (FNS) and the Implicit Association Test for food neophobia (IAT-FN). For studies 2 and 3, a prospective longitudinal cut study was performed with adults, both sexes, submitted to BS evaluated at 3 moments: preoperative, 3 and 6 months after the BS. In the second study 37 eutrophic and 68 obese individuals responded to FNS and performed IAT-FN. In the third study 35 obese answered the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Brazilian silhouettes Figures Scale for Adults, the three time points. The results of Study 1 showed that IAT-FN represents a satisfactory tool for FN assessment, showing no association with the explicit FN measurement. In Study 2 it was found that the explicit and implicit response of FN in eutrophic group was like obese participants in the preoperative period. It was also observed that obese individuals presented greater neophobia 3 months after BC, but the implicit measure did not change. In Study 3 it was seen that after BS there was a significant improvement in perception and satisfaction with the body image, accompanied by an increase in the participants' self-esteem. These findings bring relevant contributions in the clinical practice of health professionals who accompany individuals submitted to BS, helping to better understand the effects of surgery under aspects related to neophobic food behavior, satisfaction with new body image and self-esteem.