When deciding what to eat we constantly weigh different aspects of the options at hand and make trade-offs between exploiting opportunities with a known outcome (e.g., eating your usual meal) and exploring novel opportunities with a potentially better outcome (e.g., trying a new dish). Environmental factors, such as scarcity, have previously been shown to tip the balance towards either exploration or exploitation. Studies in animals have further linked female steroid hormones (including estradiol and progesterone) to exploratory behavior. Previous work in humans has suggested that food preferences and food intake also change over the menstrual cycle. However, it remains unknown whether exploratory behavior in food choices also changes across the menstrual phases in humans. In a rating phase, 112 adult women (age range 18–45 years) on or off hormonal birth control rated 40 food items on desirability. In the choice phase, participants made binary choices between food items. On some trials, a surprise box replaced one of the two food options, allowing us to examine exploratory choices. Women off hormonal birth control reported their average cycle length and time since the first day of their last menstruation. Analysis of the percentage surprise choices across the menstrual cycle indicated a small, but significant effect, with exploratory choice behavior tending to increase around the middle of/later during the cycle. This provides preliminary novel evidence that hormonal fluctuations are associated with food-related exploratory choice behavior. Importantly, these effects were observed beyond effects of other food-related factors. Future studies should investigate the nature of these effects using more direct hormonal measures.

中文翻译：

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整个月经周期与食物相关的探索

在决定吃什么时，我们不断权衡手头选择的不同方面，并在利用具有已知结果的机会（例如，吃平常的饭菜）和探索具有潜在更好结果的新机会（例如，尝试新的食物）之间进行权衡。盘子）。此前已证明，稀缺性等环境因素会使平衡偏向勘探或开发。对动物的研究进一步将雌性类固醇激素（包括雌二醇和黄体酮）与探索行为联系起来。先前对人类的研究表明，食物偏好和食物摄入量也会随着月经周期而变化。然而，目前尚不清楚人类在食物选择方面的探索行为是否也会在月经阶段发生变化。在评级阶段，112 名接受或不接受激素避孕的成年女性（年龄范围 18-45 岁）对 40 种食品的吸引力进行了评级。在选择阶段，参与者在食物之间做出二元选择。在一些试验中，一个惊喜盒取代了两种食物选择之一，使我们能够检查探索性选择。停止激素避孕的女性报告了她们的平均周期长度和自上次月经第一天以来的时间。对整个月经周期的意外选择百分比的分析表明，效果虽小，但意义重大，探索性选择行为往往在周期中期/后期增加。这提供了初步的新证据，证明荷尔蒙波动与食物相关的探索性选择行为有关。重要的是，这些影响的观察超出了其他食品相关因素的影响。未来的研究应该使用更直接的激素测量来调查这些影响的性质。