Abstract

Introduction Excessive body weight and problematic eating behaviours, such as emotional and binge eating, have become major public health concerns. Mindful eating and intuitive eating offer alternative approaches to traditional dieting by encouraging individuals to focus on internal hunger and satiety cues. This study aims to analyse research trends and metrics related to mindful eating and intuitive eating publications over the past twenty years.

Methods We used Scopus to identify mindful and intuitive eating related studies from 2004 to 2024. VOSviewer and Bibliometrix were used to extract relevant data and run the bibliometric analysis.

Results A total of 1922 articles and reviews published in English were identified. After screening titles and abstract for relevance, 1064 documents were left for analysis. The number of studies on mindful and intuitive eating increased most years, with 2023 (n=143, 13.44%) and 2024 (n=146, 13.72%) producing the most articles, and a total citation count of 32,245 over the twenty-year period. High-income countries such as the United States (n=497), United Kingdom (n=131), and Canada (n=88) produced the most scientific articles. Leading researchers were Mantzios, M. (n=26) and Tylka, T. L. (n=25). The most cited articles focused on mindfulness or meditation-based therapies in managing psychological stress and the influence of taste on food choices. Keyword and trend analyses highlight emerging research areas such as ‘mindfulness’ and ‘intuitive eating’.

Conclusion This bibliometric analysis provides valuable insights to the research trends in the mindful and intuitive eating fields. Strengthening interdisciplinary research and expanding collaborations between countries and authors could enhance the research impact in these fields as well as exploring emerging topics such as body perceptions (e.g., body image, body positivity, body dissatisfaction).

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Funding Statement

This work was funded by The Burdett Trust for Nursing via a grant awarded in 2023.

Author Declarations

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

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I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

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I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable.

Yes

Data Availability

All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors.

ABBREVIATIONSMCPCollaboration within countriesSCPCollaboration between countriesIEIntuitive eatingMEMindful eatingU.S.United States of AmericaU.K.United Kingdom