Eating Behaviors and Adiposity Indicators – Observations from the 2016/17 Examination of the Population Study of Women in Gothenburg
The study by Mehlig et al. (2024) aimed to investigate the relationship between eating behavior, as assessed by the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ), and measures of adiposity in a cross-sectional analysis. A total of 573 women, aged between 38 and 50, who participated in the Gothenburg population study of women in 2016/17 completed the TFEQ-R21. The study examined three aspects of eating behavior, both from an outcome and a predictor aspect of adiposity—emotional eating (EE), uncontrolled eating (UE), and cognitive restraint (CR). All TFEQ domains were favorably correlated with diets, according to the results. CR was connected with a decreased consumption of sweets, but EE and UE were linked to increased consumption. Additionally, there was a negative correlation between well-being and EE and UE. EE and CR (while UE showed no such correlation) were found to be positively associated with various adiposity measures (skinfold thickness, waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, BMI) when considering all domains simultaneously in the models. For instance, a one standard deviation increase in EE was associated with obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m²) and abdominal fat (waist circumference > 88 cm). Remarkably, dieting in the past and present was similarly favorably correlated with these results; however, in mutually adjusted models, there was no significant correlation found between UE and CR. The authors suggest that emotional eating behavior is linked to adiposity in middle-aged women, across a wide range of body fat levels, and independently of dieting behavior. These findings imply that obesity treatment should incorporate psychological support to mitigate the risk of emotional eating in response to negative mood states. [NPID: Eating behavior, adiposity measures, emotional eating, cognitive restraint, dieting behavior, obesity]
Year: 2024
