Relationship between dietary restraint, binge eating, and leptin in obese women

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To describe some biological, behavioural and psychological correlates of the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire, and to determine the relationship between dietary restraint, binge eating, and leptin among obese women seeking treatment. DESIGN: Consecutive series of obese women enrolled in a clinical program for weight reduction treatment. SUBJECTS: Forty-two obese women. Eight participants met the criteria for`severe binge eating' as measured by the Binge Eating Scale. MEASUREMENTS: Energy intake, resting energy expenditure, body composition, leptin, restraint, disinhibition, hunger and binge eating were assessed before starting the treatment. RESULTS: In this sample both higher disinhibition and hunger scores were associated with greater binge eating severity. Obese women with severe binge eating had lower restraint, higher disinhibition and hunger scores, as well as higher daily fat intake, when compared with obese non-binge-eaters. Interestingly, restraint scores were negatively associated with leptin levels among subjects with severe binge eating. CONCLUSION: In obese women with severe binge eating, the negative relationship between dietary restraint and serum leptin concentrations seems mediated by a greater fat intake. These ®ndings need to be veri®ed in further human studies.

Disinhibition, as assessed by the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire, is inversely related to psychological well-being in postmenopausal women

“…Habitual susceptibility to disinhibition is defined as circumstances that could predispose to recurrent overconsumption of food together with a loss of control on food intake. Even if a high score for this TFEQ-factor should not be considered as pathological, some similarities can be observed with bingeeating disorder, as previous studies have shown a positive relationship between disinhibition and severity of binge eating 36 or with the frequency of objective bulimic episodes. 37 Furthermore, a greater risk of psychopathology has been previously observed in binge eaters, 18,19 whereas their distress could be mostly related to their pattern of erratic eating, rather than to their weight gain.…”

Effect of dietary restraint during and following pegylated recombinant leptin (PEG-OB) treatment of overweight men

“…This is in line with results found in overweight women. 24,25 The rate of body weight regain (expressed as percentage of the weight loss) after 8 weeks follow-up was larger in the PEG-OB than in the placebo group. Since there was no relationship between body weight regain and weight loss, this was not due to the larger body weight loss.…”

“…20,23 The relationship between dietary restraint and endogenous leptin levels has been studied in overweight women, but no significant correlation was found. 24,25 To our knowledge, this relationship has not yet been investigated in overweight men. The question remains whether pharmacological treatment, that is, PEG-OB protein treatment, replaces or supports an increase of dietary restraint during treatment.…”

Serum leptin concentration in obese patients with binge eating disorder

“…8,10,11 Because BW, body composition and REE values were very similar in all subjects of this study, and since the physical activity was most likely comparable, a similar overall energy intake has to be assumed. In addition, since in all cases BW was essentially stable in all cases, all patients have to be considered in energy balance.…”

“…10 In contrast, other researches showed higher leptin concentrations in BED obese patients than is normally expected for their body weight, indicating that plasma leptin might be a sensitive marker of metabolic changes occurring during bingeing episodes, and that an increased leptin value with an impaired sensitivity to the increased circulating leptin could be involved in the pathogenesis and=or in the maintenance of bingeing behavior. 8,11 In order to ascertain the relationships between leptin and eating pattern in obese patients, this investigation sought to measure the serum leptin concentrations in both BED and non-BED obese patients and to correlate data to individual food-and shape-attitudes and to the patients' weight fluctuations.…”