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PubMed1995

Red kidney beans--to eat or not to eat?

The importation of dry red kidney beans (a variety of the species Phaseolus vulgaris) for cultivation or consumption in South Africa is prohibited because of their potential toxicity to humans. It has been established that the haemagglutinating lectins (e.g. phytohaemagglutinin (PHA)) in kidney beans are responsible for this toxicity. Dry bean varieties available on the South African market for human consumption as well as locally produced (for this study) and imported dry red kidney beans and imported canned red kidney beans were compared. The PHA activity and the effect of heat thereon were measured, before and after overnight soaking. The PHA activity in extracts of uncooked and incompletely cooked red kidney beans was not higher than the levels measured in 50% of the other bean varieties included in the study. These findings indicate that the toxic potentials and health risks associated with red kidney beans are similar to those of other dry beans already commercially available to South Africans.

Agglutination Tests↗
PubMed2002

Interventions for preventing eating disorders in children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Eating disorders represent an extremely difficult condition to treat and patients consume an enormous amount of mental health energy and resources. Being young, female, and dieting are some of the few identified risk factors that have been reliably linked to the development of eating disorders, and several prevention eating disorder prevention programs have been developed and trialed with children and adolescents. The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the effectiveness of eating disorder prevention programs for children and adolescents both in the general population and those determined to be at risk. OBJECTIVES: 1. To determine if eating disorder prevention programs are effective in promoting healthy eating attitudes and behaviours in children and adolescents; 2. To determine if eating disorder prevention programs are effective in promoting psychological factors that protect children and adolescents from developing eating disorders; 3. To determine if eating disorder prevention programs are effective in promoting satisfactory physical health in children and adolescents; 4. To determine if eating disorder prevention programs have a long-term, sustainable, and positive impact on the mental and physical health of children and adolescents; and, 5. To determine the safety of eating disorder prevention programs in terms of possible harmful consequences on the mental or physical health of children and adolescents. SEARCH STRATEGY: Relevant trials are identified through searching the Cochrane Controlled Trial Register (CCTR) and relevant biomedical and social science databases. All terms necessary to detect prevention programs and the participant groups are used. A strategy to locate randomised controlled trials is used. Other sources of information are the bibliographies of systematic and non-systematic reviews and reference lists from articles identified through the search strategy. In order to identify unpublished studies, experts in the field are contacted by letter and/or electronic mail. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials (RCT) with a major focus on eating disorder prevention programs for children and adolescents, where there is no known DSM-IV diagnosis of an eating disorder, are eligible for inclusion in the review. Trials must include a control group and at least one objective outcome measure (eg. BMI) or a standardised psychological measure used with the intervention and control group, pre- and post-intervention. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: A total of 1379 titles have been identified through the search to date. 13 studies were located that reported use of a randomised controlled trial methodology and were critically appraised by two independent reviewers. Five (5) studies were excluded as data were not reported in a useable form or useable data could not be obtained from the trial authors, one dissertation could not be obtained, one study had no "true" no-treatment or usual treatment control group, and one study did not use a pre-test outcome measure. Eight (8) studies met the selection criteria outlined above. MAIN RESULTS: Only one of eight pooled comparisons of two or more studies using similar outcome measures and similar intervention types demonstrated the statistically significant effect of a particular type of eating disorder prevention program for children and adolescents. Combined data from two eating disorder prevention programs based on a media literacy and advocacy approach indicate a reduction in the internalisation or acceptance of societal ideals relating to appearance at a 3- to 6-month follow-up (Kusel, unpublished; Neumark-Sztainer2000) [SMD -0.28, -0.51 to -0.05, 95% CI]. However, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that this approach also demonstrated a significant impact on awareness of societal standards relating to appearance. There is insufficient evidence to support the effect of four programs designed to address eating attitudes and behaviours and other adolescent issues on body weight, eating disorder symptoms, associated eating disorder psychopathology or general psychological and physical well-being in the general sample or those classified as being at high risk for eating disorder (Buddeberg-F 1998; Killen 1993/1996; Santonastaso 1999; Zanetti 1999). Given only one program used a psychoeducation approach to prevent bulimia nervosa (Jerome, unpublished) and only one program adopted a focus on self-esteem (O'Dea 2000), the effect of these approaches could not be evaluated via meta-analyses. In relation to potential harmful effects, there is not sufficient evidence to suggest that harm resulted from any of the prevention programs included in the review. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: The one significant pooled effect in the current review does not allow for any firm conclusions to be made about the impact of prevention programs for eating disorders in children and adolescents, although none of the pooled comparisons indicated evidence of harm. From a clinical perspective, the development and refinement of prevention programs is complicated by a lack of knowledge about risk factors associated with eating disorders and the need to strike a balance between delivering preventive interventions for eating disorders and considering the potential to cause harm. From a research perspective, the idea of "thresholds" for identifying young people at risk of developing eating disorders has been raised, and denial of concern or denial of illness represents a further issue complicating early identification in relation to eating disorder symptomatology. Longer-term effects of the intervention approaches will need to be monitored across development in order to demonstrate a decline in the incidence of eating disorders and associated risk factors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Psychological symptoms are greater among weight cycling women with severe binge eating behavior.

OBJECTIVE: To identify psychological characteristics and eating behaviors associated with weight cycling and binge eating behaviors in overweight women (body mass index > 27.3). DESIGN: Questionnaires measuring self-esteem, self-efficacy, coping strategies, psychological symptoms, depression, binge eating, restrained eating, disinhibition, and hunger were administered to female weight cyclers who were overweight. Psychological characteristics were compared between subjects grouped by binge eating disorder classification and by binge eating severity. SUBJECTS: A convenience sample of 62 female weight cyclers who were overweight was recruited from the Chicago, Ill, area. Questionnaires were administered individually or in small groups in subjects' homes or other private settings. STATISTICAL ANALYSES: Student's t tests or Mann-Whitney U tests were used to assess differences in psychological characteristics. RESULTS: Thirty-six weight cyclers (58%) met the criteria for binge eating disorder and 26 (42%) did not. Weight cyclers with binge eating disorder reported greater severity of binge eating (P < .0005) and disinhibition (P < .0005) and poorer eating self-efficacy (P < .0005) than weight cyclers without binge eating disorder. Weight cyclers with severe binge eating behaviors reported greater psychological distress (P < .0005) and depression (P < .005) and lower self-esteem (P = .0001) and used less healthful coping strategies (P = .0027) than weight cyclers with no binge eating to moderate binge eating problems. Weight cyclers with severe binge eating behavior also reported more hunger (P < .0005) and used less cognitive restraint (P = .0024) than those with no binge eating to moderate binge eating problems. APPLICATIONS: Operational definitions of weight cycling and binge eating are needed to facilitate research on effective weight-loss treatments. Persons seeking to lose weight (especially weight cyclers) should be assessed for binge eating severity, problematic eating behaviors, and psychological symptoms.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Correlation between eating disorders and sleep disturbances].

Anorectics and bulimics often complain sleep onset insomnia and disrupted sleep. During awakenings bulimics can have binges. Conversely, eating disorders can be a clinical expression of a concomitantly occurring sleep disorder. Two clinical entities have been recently described: the Night Eating Syndrome (NES) and the Sleep Related Eating Disorders. The main goal of this literature review was to better characterize the relationships between eating disorders and sleep disturbances. No specific EEG sleep pattern emerges in anorectic and bulimic patients. However, all studies include several methodological limitations: a few number of patients, heterogeneous patient groups, various diagnostic criteria. The results of studies evaluating the impact of depression on sleep EEG in eating disorder patients are also subject to controversy. The only study examining the relationship between sleep EEG and morphological alterations in anorectics and normal weight bulimics shows that patients with enlarged cerebrospinal fluid spaces spent more time in slow wave sleep and that the duration of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep was reduced. The ventricular brain ratio was negatively correlated with REM sleep. The Night Eating Syndrome consists in insomnia, binge eating and morning anorexia. Other criteria are proposed to characterize the NES: more than 50% of the daily energy intake is consumed after the last evening meal, awakenings at least once a night, repetition of the provisional criteria for more than 3 months, subjects do not meet criteria for bulimia nervosa or binge eating disorder. Patients have no amnesia nor alteration of alertness, and no other sleep disorder. There is no modification of sleep EEG except sleep maintenance. The prevalence of the NES is 1.5% in the general population. Some neuroendocrine disturbances have been found in the NES. The delimitation with eating disorders is not yet clearly established. If it shares the compulsive features with eating disorders, particularly the "Binge Eating Disorder", and occurs during full awakenings, the night eating syndrome may be recognized as a specific eating disorder. The sleep related eating syndrome is also characterized by compulsive binge eating during awakenings. But in this case, night eating is linked with a reduced consciousness and sleep disorders, mainly somnambulism. Patients never experience hunger, abdominal pain, nausea or hypoglycemia. Night-eating takes place invariant across weekdays, weekend and vacations. Patients consumed high caloric foods and fluids but never alcohol and purging does not occur. Diurnal bulimia is frequently associated with the sleep-related eating disorder. In conclusion, the sleep related eating disorder seems rather be a clinical subtype of sleep disorders whereas the NES could be considered as an eating disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed2006

The prognostic significance of regular binge eating in extremely obese gastric bypass patients: 12-month postoperative outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: The prognostic significance of binge eating for extremely obese patients who undergo bariatric surgery is uncertain. We examined the relation of preoperative binge eating to preoperative presentation and 12-month postoperative outcomes. METHODS: 139 extremely obese gastric bypass surgery patients completed assessments of binge eating and eating disorders (Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire version), body dissatisfaction (Body Shape Questionnaire), depression (Beck Depression Inventory), and self-esteem (Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale) before surgery and again 12 months postsurgery. RESULTS: At baseline, 60% of patients denied binge eating, 16% reported binge eating infrequently (less than once weekly), and 24% reported binge eating at least weekly. At 12 months postsurgery, 8.8% reported infrequent binge eating and only 0.7% reported binge eating weekly. At baseline, infrequent binge eaters and regular binge eaters differed little from each other but had significantly elevated eating and psychosocial problems relative to non-binge eaters. Statistically significant and clinically robust improvements in weight and in all measures of functioning were observed at 12 months postsurgery across all groups. At 12-month follow-up, patients who reported regular binge eating at baseline had significantly higher levels of eating-specific concerns (but not psychosocial concerns) than the infrequent binge eaters and non-binge eaters; the infrequent and non-binge eaters did not differ from each other. Significant time-by-binge eating interactions indicated that the regular versus infrequent binge-eating groups improved differently over time; infrequent binge eaters had sharper improvements than regular binge eaters and non-binge eaters. CONCLUSION: Binge eating is common in extremely obese bariatric surgery candidates and is associated with heightened eating and psychological problems. Regular binge eating preoperatively, however, does not appear to be a potent negative prognostic indicator for gastric bypass surgery. Our findings, which are limited to 12 months postsurgery, highlight substantial improvements in weight and psychosocial functioning, and these robust improvements differ little by binge-eating status.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

The prevalence of sleep-related eating disorder in psychiatric and non-psychiatric populations.

BACKGROUND: Sleep-related eating disorder is a little-described syndrome combining features of sleep disorders and eating disorders. The behaviour consists of partial arousals from sleep followed by rapid ingestion of food, commonly with at least partial amnesia for the episode the following day. The aim of this study was to provide an estimate of the prevalence of sleep-related eating disorder. METHODS: The Inventory of Nocturnal Eating, a self-report questionnaire addressing nocturnal eating and sleep disturbance, was administered to out-patients (N = 126) and in-patients (N = 24) with eating disorders, obese subjects (N = 126) in a trial of an anorexic agent, depressed subjects (N = 207) in an antidepressant trial, and an unselected group (N = 217) of college students. Sleep-related eating disorder was operationally defined as nocturnal eating with a self-reported reduced level of awareness, occurring at least once per week. RESULTS: Almost 5.0% (33/700) of the sample described symptoms consistent with sleep-related eating disorder. The in-patient eating disorders group had nearly twice the prevalence (16.7%) of the out-patient eating disorder sample (8.7%), which had nearly twice the prevalence of the next highest group, the student sample (4.6%). Subjects with sleep-related eating disorder endorsed more symptoms consistent with sleep disorders and had higher levels of depression and dissociation than those without nocturnal eating. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep-related eating disorder is more common than is generally recognized, especially in those with a daytime eating disorder. Sleep disorder symptoms are often associated with sleep-related eating disorder, as are depression and dissociation. Evaluation of individuals with eating disorders should include assessment for sleep-related eating.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Clinical differences between morbid obese patients with and without binge eating].

INTRODUCTION: Our objective was to evaluate clinical differences between morbid obese patients with and without binge eating. METHODS: We evaluated 210 morbid obese patients who were referred consecutively to a psychiatric evaluation in a general hospital for different reasons. We used a clinical interview, evaluated psychiatric comorbidity and applied a series of psychopathology and eating behavior scales: Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Interview (MOCI), Barrat Impulsiveness Scale (BIS), Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI), Eating Attitudes Test (EAT), Bulimic Investigatory Test Edinburgh (BITE) and Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ). The sample was divided in two subgroups: patients with binge eating according to ICD-10 and DSM-IV criteria, and patients without binge eating. The first subgroup was composed of 14 patients with bulimia nervosa, 32 with binge eating disorder, and 15 patients with binge eating who did not fulfill criteria for bulimia or binge eating disorder (subgroup was composed by 61 patients vs 145 patients without binge eating). RESULTS: Binge eating patients showed more psychopathology, more prevalence of dysthymia, higher score in impulsiveness, and scales that evaluated eating disorder. Binge eating patients showed more familial background of eating disorders; more body dissatisfaction in spite of a lower Body Mass Index (BMI). This group showed more functional disability induced by obesity and more weight and shape overconcern. CONCLUSIONS. The findings suggest that the morbid obese with binge eating constitute a distinct subgroup (independently of eating disorder diagnosis) among the obese population, with more psychopathology severity, especially affective disorder, more impulsivity, and more severity in core items of eating disorder scales and body dissatisfaction.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Cognitions in eating disorders and their assessment].

UNLABELLED: Cognitions are of crucial importance in the -aetiology and the maintenance of eating disorders. Dysfunctional cognitions in eating disorders are related to body image, self-esteem and feeding. The aim of this paper is to review the actual knowledge in this area. First, we will display -cognitive models in eating disorders. Cognitive factors in -eating disorders are logical errors, cognitive slippage and conceptual complexity. Eating disorder patients seem to have a deficient cognitive development. Some cognitive models stipulate that eating disorder patients may develop organised cognitive structures schemas concerning the issues of weight and its implications for the self. These schemas can account for the persistence and for the understanding the "choice of the eating disorder symptomatology. Cognitive pheno-mena of interest are self-schema, weight-related schema and weight-related self-schema. The maintenance model of ano-rexia nervosa argued that, initially there is an extreme need to control eating which is supported by low self-esteem. The maintenance of the disorder is reinforced by three mechanisms: dietary restriction enhances the sense of being in control; aspects of starvation encourage further dietary restriction; concerns about shape and weight encourage restriction. The development and maintenance of bulimic symptomatology are explained by placing a high value on attaining an idealised weight and body shape accompanied by inaccurate beliefs. The cognitive model of specific family of origin experiences puts forward the development of -maladaptative expectancies for eating and thinness. Second, we discuss distortions in information processing. a) In feeding laboratories, bulimics show a wide range of caloric intake and a disruption of circadian feeding patterns. In overeating bulimics, large meals occurred mainly during afternoon and evening with high fat and carbohydrate intake, but the majority of meals were of normal size and frequency. Responsivity to food cues indicates that bulimics were more responsive to sight, smell and taste of their favourite binge food, and a greater responsivity was associated with increasing -cue salience. Eating disorder patients appear to have internalised a mediated social rule concerning "good food" and make drastic selections thus removing the possibility of choice of foodstuffs. b) Experimental processes: temporal factors in the processing of threat seem to be of importance in patients with high levels of eating psychopathology. There is no evidence for preattentive processing biases among anorectics. Changes in information processing speed after treatment were not linked to treatment condition or treatment response. c) Judgement and emotions: in eating disorder patients, distortions of depressogenic nature are found that influence the cognitive style; thoughts about eating, weight and shape are characterised by negative affective tone; negative emotions could account for bulimic behaviour; anxiety and distress are correlated to thought control strategies. Information treating seems to be impaired in a non-homogeneous way. d) Cognitive schemas are seriously maladaptive and not well investigated. In eating disorder patients, core beliefs are absolute, unconditional and dichotomous cognitions about oneself and the world. There are only few studies in this field moreover showing controversial results. Core beliefs can explain links between personality disorders and eating psychopathology. Pathological core beliefs have to be taken in to account because they influence the outcome and the efficacy of cognitive behavioural therapy. Third, the last part of this paper summarises actually available rating scales eva-luating distorted cognitions in eating disorders. There are different methods for evaluation: specific and non-specific self-report questionnaires, thought-sampling procedures, -methods derived from cognitive psychology. The Mizes Anorectic Cognition questionnaire (MAC) is a well-known self-rating scale with good psychometric properties. The revised form of the MAC appears to be an improvement in the area of internal consistency, sensitivity, and reliability. It is obvious that there is no particular rating scale referring to specific cognitions on food. IN CONCLUSION: the main result of this literature review reflects that the cognitive treatment in eating disorders is altered in a specific way on an emotional basis and on self-representation.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Self-esteem: a comparison study between eating disorders and social phobia].

Eating disorder patients evidenced very often a low self-esteem. Self-esteem in eating disorder patients is excessively based on body dissatisfaction. In eating disorders there seems to be a link between body image dissatisfaction and social anxiety. We hypothesised: self-esteem would be as low in eating disorder patients as in social phobia patients; self-esteem would be lower in eating disorder patients with social phobia than in patients with social phobia alone; self-esteem would be lower in eating disorder patients with depressive cognitions than in social phobia patients with depressive cognitions; self-esteem could have different characteristics in the two disorders; self-esteem would be as low in anorexia as in bulimia; 103 eating disorder patients (33 restrictive anorectics, 34 anorectics-bulimics, 36 bulimics) and 26 social phobia patients diagnosed according to DSM IV and ICD-10 criteria have been investigated by the Self-Esteem Inventory of Coopersmith, the Assertiveness Schedule of Rathus, the Fear Survey Schedule of Wolpe (FSS III) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Patients were free of medication and presented no episode of major depression according to DSM IV criteria. Evaluations took place before any psychotherapy. Self-esteem in eating disorder patients is reduced at the same level as in social phobia patients; 86.1% of the total sample and 84.5% of the eating disorder patients have a very low self-esteem (score 33 in the SEI). Eating disorder patients have significantly higher scores in the Social (p=0.016) and Professional (p=0.0225) sub-scales of the SEI than social phobia patients. Eating disorder patients show higher scores on the Assertiveness Schedule of Rathus (p=0.0013) than social phobia patients. Eating disorder patients disclose higher scores on the BDI (p=0.0003) but eating disorder patients with depressive cognitions do not differ from social phobia patients with depressive cognitions in the level of self-esteem. The FSS III scores are significantly lower in eating disorder patients (p<0.0001). There is a difference in the nature of the deficit of self-esteem between the two patient populations. Self-esteem is not influenced by the Body Mass Index (BMI) and is identically reduced in all groups of eating disorder patients. Whereas eating disorder patients have the same complaints compared to social phobia, they differ significantly from social phobia patients in their characteristics of social phobia and self-esteem.

Adult↗
PubMed2005

[Factors related to breakfast eating behavior among elementary school children].

OBJECT: The purpose of this study was to clarify factors related to eating breakfast among elementary school children. METHOD: The subjects were 196 fifth-grade pupils from two elementary schools in Osaka Prefecture. The main survey items were as follows: Number of eating breakfast days in the last week, appetite for breakfast, sleeping habits, knowledge on food, attitude related to eating breakfast, self-esteem, social skills, and eating behavior of family members. The Rosenberg Scale was used to measure global self-esteem and the Pope Scale for estimation of family-related self-esteem. Social skills were assessed using the scale developed by Shimada et al., which consists of subscales for pro-social skills, withdrawal behavior, and aggressive behavior. RESULTS: The main results were as follows: (1) The percentages of children who ate breakfast everyday in the last week were 78.3% for boys and 70.2% for girls, who no significant difference between the sexes. (2) The children who ate breakfast everyday in the last week (everyday-eating group) had more appetite for breakfast and went to bed earlier than the children who one or more days without eating (lack-of-eating group). (3) Compared with the lack-of-eating group, the everyday-eating group showed higher scores in family-related self-esteem and pro-social skills, and lower scores for aggressive behavior. (4) Regarding knowledge on food except influence of sugar for health, there were no differences between the everyday-eating and lack-of-eating groups. However, the former included more children who thought that eating every breakfast was very important, compared with the latter. (5) Children who expressed the following answers were more abundant in the everyday-eating group than in the lack-of-eating group: (1) Family members prepare breakfast every day; (2) They ate breakfast with family members everyday in the last week; (3) They often talk with family members during meals and snacks. CONCLUSIONS: From the above results, the following are suggested in relation to the development of eating breakfast for elementary school children: (1) Only providing knowledge on nutrition is insufficient; (2) Development of a positive attitude toward the significance of breakfast is necessary; (3) Development of a daily living rhythm, including sleeping behavior, is important; (4) Encouraging the development of family-related self-esteem and the social skills is important. Therefore, especially in the elementary school stage, not only conducting eating behavior education at school, but also intervention to affect family members' behavior and attitudes has an important role.

Aggression↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Perceptions of healthy eating: state of knowledge and research gaps.

To effectively promote and support healthy eating among Canadians, there needs to be a better understanding of the factors that influence eating behaviours. Perceptions of healthy eating can be considered as one of the many factors influencing people's eating habits. For this review, "perceptions of healthy eating" are defined as the public's and health professionals' meanings, understandings, views, attitudes and beliefs about healthy eating, eating for health, and healthy foods. This article's aim is to review and summarize the literature on the perceptions of healthy eating and to identify the current state of knowledge and key knowledge gaps. Databases, the worldwide web, selected journals and reference lists were searched for relevant papers from the last 20 years. Reviewed articles suggest relative homogeneity in the perceptions of healthy eating despite the studies being conducted in different countries and involving different age groups, sexes and socio-economic status. Perceptions of healthy eating were generally based on food choice. Fruits and vegetables were consistently recognized as part of healthy eating. Characteristics of food such as naturalness, and fat, sugar and salt contents were also important in people's perceptions of healthy eating. Concepts related to healthy eating, such as balance, variety and moderation, were often mentioned, but they were found to be polysemous, conveying multiple meanings. The main gap identified in this review concerns the lack of knowledge available on perceptions of healthy eating. More data are needed on the perceptions of healthy eating in general, on the influence on perceptions of messages from diverse sources such as food companies, and, most important, on the role of perceptions of healthy eating as a determinant of food choice.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2004

Definitions of night eating in adolescent girls.

OBJECTIVE: To describe the prevalence of night eating in a community cohort of black and white girls, using different definitions of night eating as described in the literature. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Three-day food diaries collected as part of the National Growth and Health Study were examined to identify episodes of night eating, which was defined in five different ways: eating >25% of daily caloric intake after the last evening meal, eating >25% of daily caloric intake after 7 pm, eating >50% of daily caloric intake after the last evening meal, eating >50% of daily caloric intake after 7 pm, or eating between 11 pm and 4:59 am. RESULTS: Frequency of night eating varied tremendously depending on how the behavior was defined. For the least restrictive definition (>25% of total intake after last meal), 50% to 70% of girls reported one night eating event; for the most restrictive (>50% of total intake after last meal), only 1.5% of 11-year-old girls' diaries and 3.5% of 19-year-old girls' diaries contained a night eating event. The frequency of night eating decreased dramatically (typically by a factor of 10) if the inclusion criteria required multiple night eating events in a given week. DISCUSSION: A standard definition of night eating behavior is needed to advance the field. An agreed-on operationalized definition that includes time of day, amount of calories consumed, and a frequency criterion would enable cross-study comparisons and encourage the examination of developmental and clinical considerations of night eating behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Abnormal eating behaviors in military women.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of abnormal eating behaviors in women on active duty in the Army. METHODS: A total of 423 female soldiers from the general population on active duty volunteered to participate in this study. They completed the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI) questionnaire. Each questionnaire was screened and any woman on active duty practicing abnormal eating behaviors (criteria set up by the authors) underwent an interview. A diagnosis, using DSM IV criteria, of one of the following was determined from the interview: 1) No eating disorder, (2) Anorexia nervosa, 3) Bulimia nervosa, 4) binge eating disorder, 5a) Eating disorder NOS, and 5b) Situational eating disorder. A situational eating disorder was defined as any abnormal eating behaviors consistent with an eating disorder NOS that was practiced intermittently and in response to external pressures associated with significant distress, such as military weigh-ins or army physical fitness testing (APFT). RESULTS: Of the 423 women on active duty who participated, 33.6% (N = 142) met the questionnaire screening criteria for being "at risk" for abnormal eating behaviors and underwent an interview. Of the 142 women interviewed, 33 (8%) women were diagnosed with an eating disorder. The women with eating disorders exercised, felt dissatisfied with their weight, and felt significantly more pressure about their weight than the women without eating disorders. In addition, they also had significantly greater scores on the Drive for Thinness (DT), Bulemia (B), and Body Dissatisfaction (BD) subscales, and the total EDI scores for both the 8 and 11 subscales. CONCLUSION: In the women on active duty in the Army studied, there was an 8% prevalence of eating disorders.

Adolescent↗