Binge Eating Risk During Midlife and the Menopausal Transition: Sensitivity to Ovarian Hormones as Potential Mechanisms of Risk

Ovarian Hormones and Binge Eating in Adulthood: Summary of Findings and Implications for Individual Differences in Risk in Women

“…The menopausal transition (perimenopause) is another period that may be associated with increased BE (Anaya et al, 2023). Dramatic fluctuations in both estrogen and progesterone occur during perimenopause that are then followed by dropping and low levels of both hormones (see Fig.…”

“…Unfortunately, no animal studies have examined hormone effects on BE during midlife and later adulthood, and very few human studies have been conducted. Data thus far suggest that there may be increased rates of BE and BE-related disorders (especially binge-eating disorder) during perimenopause, but effect sizes are small, findings are variable, and methodological limitations (e.g., small samples, self-report of menopausal stage only) limit study conclusions (Anaya et al, 2023). Only one pilot study examined hormone levels; findings showed increased BE during perimenopause in some women that may be due to progesterone spikes that counteract the protective effects of estrogen (Baker et al, 2019).…”

“…We end by discussing the implications of findings for other hormonal “events” during adulthood (e.g., hormonal contraceptive use, pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause) and areas for future research. Notably, our article is not meant to be a full, systematic review of these literatures, as this type of review is beyond the scope of this summary, and other systematic reviews have been published for some topics (see Anaya et al, 2023; Asarian & Geary, 2013; Hildebrandt et al, 2010; Klump & Di Dio, 2022; Klump et al, 2017). The current article is a summary and integration of the state of the science in this research, focusing on findings from the strongest methodological studies and systematic reviews and noting contradictory or inconsistent findings, when present.…”

The Clinical Phenotype of Binge Eating Disorder among Postmenopausal Women: A Pilot Study

“…In the limited available data, BE in midlife and in perimenopausal women has garnered slightly more attention than BE in postmenopausal women. Research demonstrates mixed evidence regarding whether there is an increased risk for BE in midlife women that is directly related to menopause and associated hormonal changes [21]. However, overall disordered eating has been strongly associated with depression and with less physical activity among women aged 46-76 [22].…”