(P18-06-26) The Association of Long COVID Symptoms With Food Noise

Sunday, July 26, 2026

9:30 AM - 10:30 AM ET

Location: Poster Board E-5

Presenting Author(s)

Martin Binks, PhD, MBA.

Professor & Chair
George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia, United States

Co-Author(s)

ED

Emily Dhurandhar

Obthera, United States
SP

Sherri Pals

Independent Consultant
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Kevin C. Maki, PhD

Chief Scientist
Midwest Biomedical Research
Addison, Illinois, United States
MR

Molly Rosenburg

Indiana University
Bloomington, Indiana, United States
DA

David B. Allison

Baylor College of Medicine, United States

Disclosure(s):

Martin Binks, PhD, MBA.: Aardvark Therapeutics: Stock Shareholder (excluding mutual funds) (Ongoing)
Eli Lilly and Co: Stock Shareholder (excluding mutual funds) (Ongoing)
Medline: Stock Shareholder (excluding mutual funds) (Ongoing)
Novo Nordisk: Stock Shareholder (excluding mutual funds) (Ongoing)
Viking Therapeutics: Stock Shareholder (excluding mutual funds) (Ongoing)

Kevin C. Maki, PhD: 89Bio: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing)
ACH Food Companies: Consultant (Ongoing); Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Bragg Live Food Products: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing)
Campbell's: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing)
Cargill: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Eli Lilly and Company: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Esperion Therapeutics: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing); Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
General Mills Inc.: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Global Organization for EPA and DHA: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Greenyn Biotechnology: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Hass Avocado Board: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Helaina: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing); Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Hershey: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Indiana University Foundation: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Lonza: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing)
Matinas Biopharma: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing); Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
MDLifespan: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing); Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Medifast, Inc.: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing); Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
National Cattlemen's Beef Association/Beef Checkoff: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing); Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
National Dairy Council: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing); Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Naturmega: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
NewAmsterdam Pharma: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing); Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
NorthSea Therapeutics: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing)
Novo Nordisk: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing); Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Pepsico: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Pharmavite: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Ro: Grant/Research Support (Ongoing)
Seed, Inc.: Advisory Committee/Board Member (Ongoing); Consultant (Ongoing)

Objectives: The impact of COVID-19 infection on appetite is unclear. It is hypothesized that loss of taste and smell resulting from COVID-19 may increase hedonic threshold, leading to overeating and weight gain. In addition, increases in depression and anxiety following COVID-19 infection may also affect appetite. A new psychological construct considered a marker of appetite is food noise, defined as persistent thoughts of food that are unwanted and unpleasant. Since COVID-19 may impact appetite, we hypothesized that long COVID would be associated with higher food noise.

Methods: Previously collected data from 273 adults representative of the general population were analyzed. The Ro Allison Indiana Dhurandhar Food Noise Inventory (RAID-FN), a three-factor scale, was used to measure food noise. A unidimensional latent variable for Long COVID was created based on questions related to quality of life, physical functioning, shortness of breath. For each of the three Food Noise factors, we fit linear regression models including Age, Sex, Race, BMI, long COVID score, an Age x Sex interaction, and a quadratic term for BMI.

Results: Long COVID score was significantly related to all three factors of Food Noise (b (95% confidence interval)= -0.36 (-0.50, -0.21), -0.32 (-0.45, -0.19), -0.35 (-0.50, -0.21) for factors 1, 2 and 3 respectively (all p< .001)), such that increasing score (indicating better functioning) was associated with lower RAID-FN scores. BMI was significantly positively associated with RAID-FN for all three factors (b (95% Confidence Interval)= 0.01 (-0.02, -0.003), 0.01 (-0.01, -0.001), 0.02 (-0.02, -0.003) for factors 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

Conclusions: Our latent variable for Long COVID was associated with an increase in food noise and BMI, suggesting it may have an impact on quality of life, eating behaviors, weight, and metabolism. Future studies in verified long COVID cohorts are needed to verify this finding and understand the impact of food noise in long COVID patients.

Funding Sources: Data collection was supported by the IU Foundation.