Clinical significance of binge eating behavior in Turkish women who applied to a dietician: A research on hedonic hunger, nutritional status and dietary habits

Abstract

It is conducted to detect binge eating disorder in women who apply to a dietitian and to examine its relationship with hedonic hunger and obesity. This study was conducted with 400 adult women aged 19-50 years. Bulimic Investigatory Test Edinburgh was used to examine binge eating disorder, and The Power of Food Scale was used to determine hedonic hunger status. 25.2% of the participants had binge eating disorder and 74.7% had hedonic hunger. While most women with binge eating disorder (87.0%) have hedonic hunger, women without binge eating disorder have a significantly lower body mass index (25.3 ±5.12 kg/m2 vs 27.0±5.46 kg/m2, p=0.005). It was found that women with binge eating disorder diet more frequently (87.1% vs. 41.8%), have more appetite (78.2% vs. 29.8%), and have more irregular meals than those without binge eating disorder (68.3% vs. 41.3% (p=0.001). While 64.3% of women without binge eating disorder consume processed/packaged products less than once in 15 days, 57.5% consume more than 1-4 times a week (p=0.007). Binge eating disorder positively and significantly correlated with hedonic hunger and body mass index (r=0.522, p=0.001; r=0.234, p=0.001, respectively). Binge eating disorder is an important factor in the nutritional status and food preference of women who apply to a dietitian.