Eating Habits of Obese Patients: One obesity center Experience

Introduction Obesity is a component of eating disorders grouped under several eating disturbances due to emotional problems. Eating habits are directly influenced by eating disorders. Eating disorder rates in obese patients are reported to be 15-50% in various populations. This study aimed to evaluate obesity related eating habits (OREH) in obese patients who followed in an obesity center. Methods A total of 752 (F/M: 636/116, 42.6G11.6 yrs ) obese patients (BMIO30) who applied to the Obesity Center of Marmara University Pendik Education and Research Hospital (ERH) were included in this cross-sectional study. Obesity is classified as Stage 1 (BMI 30-34.9), Stage 2 (BMI 35-39.9), and Stage 3 (BMIO 40). We evaluated graze eating, night eating, eating addiction, and binge eating in the context of OREH in accordance with the literature. Self-report tests including The Short Inventory of Grazing (SIG), Modified Yale Food Addiction Scale (mYFAS), Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ), Emotional Eating Scale (EES), and Binge Eating Scale (BES) were given to the patients. OREH results were determined based on these test’s cut-off points. Results Mean BMI was found to be 42.1G6.6 kg/m2 . There were no statistically significant difference between both genders in respect of age and BMI (PO0.05). Mild grazing habits was observed in 136 (18%) cases, moderate grazing in 309 (41%) cases, and severe grazing in 229 (30%) cases. Modarete stage grazing was more common in women (265, 41.6%) and men (44, 47.6%). Binge eating was recorded in 337 of the total (44.8%) patients, in 287 of women (45.1%) and 50 men (43.1%). Emotional eating was present in 113 of the total patients (15%), in 103 of women (16.1%) and 10 men (8.6%). Food addiction were seen in 402 of all cases (53.4%). High stage food addiction was more common in women (169, 51.1%) and men (30, 42.2%). Night eating was found in 225 patients among all (29.9%) with 185 (29%) to be in women and 40 (34.4%) in men. Emotional eating (PZ0.032) and night eating (PZ0.025) were found to be statistically significant in regard of BMI. Conclusion In this cross-sectional study, many of obese patients had obesity related eating habits whereas 65% of all cases had more than one component of obesity related eating habits. Determining the eating disorders prior to obesity treatment are necessary for planning and treatment compliance. DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.90.EP462