Aspects of eating behaviors disinhibition and restraint are related to weight gain and BMI in women

Authors: HAYS, NICHOLAS - U OF ARKANSAS DEPT OF GER; Roberts, Susan

Submitted to: Obesity
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/17/2007
Publication Date: 1/1/2008
Citation: Hays, N.P., Roberts, S. 2008. Aspects of eating behaviors disinhibition and restraint are related to weight gain and BMI in women. Obesity. 16(1):52–58.

Interpretive Summary: The prevention and treatment of obesity is one of the most important research areas for scientists in the US and worldwide. Behavioral aspects of eating, such as tendencies to restrict food intake or overeat opportunistically, are important influences of obesity and adult weight gain, but specific information regarding the circumstances when or how these behaviors are expressed is limited. Our new results in this study indicate that some types of overeating patterns are much more predictive of weight gain and obesity than others. Current clinical practice usually emphasizes treatment of overeating in connection with emotions and specific situations; the results here indicate that it is habitual, day-to-day overeating that is quantitatively most important. These results suggest a need for less emphasis on situational and emotional overeating, and greater emphasis on reducing habitual overeating through decreasing environmental cues such as high dietary variety and food availability, and teaching skills to reduce responsiveness to environmental cues. This would alter current programs for prevention and treatment of obesity which frequently emphasize avoidance of situational and emotional overeating and place little emphasis on control of habitual overeating.

Technical Abstract: Objective: The causes of adult weight gain leading to obesity are uncertain. We examined the association of adult weight gain and obesity with subscales of eating behavior characteristics in older women. Research Methods and Procedures: Current height and weight, eating behavior subscales (Disinhibition subscales habitual, situational and emotional; Restraint subscales flexible and rigid; Hunger subscales internal and external) as assessed using the Eating Inventory (EI), and self-reported body weight at 6 prior age intervals were reported by 535 women aged 55-65 years. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the relationships between EI subscale scores and weight change from the age interval 30-39 to 55-60 years and current BMI. Results: The strongest correlate of weight gain over 20 years was susceptibility to overeating in response to everyday cues within the environment (habitual disinhibition; partial correlation coefficient [r] = 0.25, p<0.001); susceptibility to overeating in response to emotional states such as depression (emotional disinhibition) was a quantitatively weaker but significant correlate (partial r = 0.17, p<0.001), and susceptibility to overeating in response to specific situations such as social occasions (situational disinhibition) was not associated with weight gain. Flexible control of dietary restraint attenuated the influence of habitual disinhibition in particular on weight gain and BMI, and was less effective in attenuating associations of emotional or situational disinhibition. Discussion: Lifestyle modification programs for prevention and treatment of adult-onset obesity currently focus on reducing situational and emotional overeating; the results of this study suggest that a stronger emphasis on strategies that target habitual overeating may be warranted.