Anecdotally, I find the dopamine hit of eating (a lot unhealthy food) is a worth more to me to any dampening effects.

Because while I might be in slightly less discomfort, I'm still in discomfort but also hungry...

I have chronic pain triggered by/related to eating, tied to celiac, dysphagia and maybe gerd. The odd thing is the pain is relieved while eating and 5-10 minutes afterwards, and in the past the discomfort used to spur me to keep eating.

I can’t really say the pain is lessened by hunger, because I spend plenty of time hungry and also in pain (I’ve lost 45 lbs since Jan 1). Hunger is enough to spur me to eat, despite that it’s almost always miserable later after I eat. Desire to not starve, or eat when very hungry, is one of the strongest urges, though, which would seem to overcome pain. Perhaps that’s precisely what they mean. I’ll be observing my own sensations in relation to this.

it would be other way around, they will eat less to dampen chronic pain.

I am a chronic sufferer, and in attempt to reduce my dependancy to opiates and opioids I put myself through a constant cycle of withdrawal. When I'm coming down I often have a craving for sugars and over eat. When high, I can go days without eating if not checked by a loved one. Overall I have lots a great deal of weight (including muscle mass), but I am very diligent about my diet. Others my find a craving of the sugars (in combination with a less than optimal diet), will result in a weight gain of fat and a reduction in lean mass. That is of coarse, if they go through times of withdrawal...

The article says hunger damps pain, not satiation.

Would you consider depression or lack of affection a kind of chronic pain ;) ?

Ah, the old causey-effecty switcheroo.