Supplementary Material for: Effect of hunger on weight status and weight change: multiple cross-sectional and a prospective study

Introduction: to assess the cross-sectional and prospective associations between hunger levels and weight status and change.
Methods: two surveys (2014-2017 and 2018-2021) from a prospective, population-based study. Ecological Momentary Assessments were used to assess hunger.
Results: 700 participants from the first survey (54.7% women, 60.6±9.4 years), 40.4% with healthy weight, 38.9% overweight and 20.7% with obesity. The corresponding values for the second survey (N=775, 53.3% women, 65.1±8.8 years) were 39.6%, 39.5% and 20.9%. Participants with obesity had a smaller variation of hunger levels during the day (range 4.15±0.08 vs. 4.38±0.08 and 4.27±0.07 vs. 4.35±0.07 for category with obesity and category with healthy weight, respectively, in the first and second surveys, p for trend <0.05). Inconsistent associations were found regarding average or median hunger levels: for average 2.35±0.05, 2.34±0.04 and 2.26±0.06, p=0.468 for participants with normal, overweight and obesity, respectively, in the first survey and 2.38±0.04, 2.39±0.04 and 2.16±0.06, p=0.002, in the second survey. No association was found between hunger levels and abdominal obesity or between hunger levels and weight change after a 3.8-year follow-up.
Conclusion: Participants with obesity show a lower variability in hunger levels than healthy weight participants. Hunger levels are not associated with 3.8-year weight gain.