ABSTRACT
The diagnostic criteria for the Night Eating Syndrome (NES) published in 2010 require the presence of two core criteria: evening hyperphagia and/or nocturnal awakenings for ingestion of food and three of five diagnostic descriptors. One of the descriptors is as follows: "The belief that one must eat in order to fall asleep". In this study we evaluated whether this conviction is significantly more prominent in obese individuals suffering from insomnia and nocturnal eating, than among obese patients with insomnia who do not eat at night. Ninety-eight obese subjects afflicted by insomnia were included in this study. Eight were affected by NES, 33 by Binge Eating Disorder (BED), and 13 by both BED and NES. Subjects' insomnia and sleep disturbances were assessed using the Insomnia Severity Index and the Sleep Disturbance Questionnaire. The presence of the belief that one must eat at night in order to sleep was evaluated with the question: "Do you need to eat in order to get back to sleep when you wake up at night?" Patients affected by NES and by both BED and NES were convinced that nocturnal food intake was necessary in order to fall back asleep after a night time awakening. The presence of this belief seemed to be a critical factor in identifying the presence of the Night Eating Syndrome among obese subjects suffering from insomnia.
Subject(s)
Culture , Eating/psychology , Feeding and Eating Disorders/diagnosis , Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/psychology , Adult , Aged , Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , Female , Humans , Hyperphagia/diagnosis , Hyperphagia/psychology , Male , Middle Aged , Obesity/complications , Obesity/psychology , Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/complications , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Nocturnal eating is a common symptom of two clinical conditions with different pathogenesis and needing different therapeutic approaches: Sleep Related Eating Disorder (SRED) and Night Eating Syndrome (NES). The first is considered a parasomnia while the second is an eating disorder; however, the distinction between SRED and NES is still a controversial matter. The aim of this study was to better define psychological, behavioral, and polysomnographic characteristics of the two syndromes. METHODS: An eating disorders' specialist tested a group of 28 nocturnal eaters diagnosed as affected by SRED by a sleep expert, following the current criteria of the international classification of sleep disorders, to find out if any of them was affected by NES according to the criteria suggested by both sleep and eating disorders specialists during the first international meeting on Night Eating Syndrome (Minneapolis, 2009) and if they had specific psychological or polysomnographic characteristics. RESULTS: Twenty-two subjects were diagnosed to be affected by NES. They scored higher on the physical tension subscale of the Sleep Disturbance Questionnaire (SDQ) and on the mood and sleep subscale of the Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ), but there were no other significant differences between SRED and NES patients nor for age, Body Mass Index (BMI), or gender distribution. CONCLUSIONS: The overlap between the symptomatology and the polysomnographic characteristics of the two pathologies and the difficulty in making a differential diagnosis between NES and SRED indicate the need for an update of the diagnostic criteria for SRED, as was recently done for NES.
Subject(s)
Feeding and Eating Disorders/classification , Feeding and Eating Disorders/diagnosis , International Classification of Diseases/standards , Parasomnias/classification , Parasomnias/diagnosis , Psychopathology/standards , Adult , Anxiety/classification , Anxiety/diagnosis , Female , Humans , Hyperphagia/classification , Hyperphagia/diagnosis , Male , Middle Aged , Polysomnography , Sleep Arousal Disorders/classification , Sleep Arousal Disorders/diagnosis , Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/classification , Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/diagnosisABSTRACT
We tested if there were any differences about nocturnal and diurnal anxiety between patients either affected by Binge Eating Disorder (BED) or Night eating Syndrome (NES). Fifty four patients affected by BED, 13 by NES and 16 by both BED and NES were tested using the Self Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Sleep Disturbance Questionnaire (SDQ). Their nocturnal eating behavior was ascertained through the Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ). Patients affected by both BED and NES scored significantly higher on SAS than other patients. Among NES patients we found a correlation between a SDQ subscale and two subscales of the NEQ. Among BED patients we found a correlation between SAS scores and the nocturnal ingestion subscale of the NEQ. Nocturnal eating is related to nocturnal anxiety among NES patients while it is related to diurnal anxiety among patients affected by BED. These findings support the hypothesis that BED and NES are distinct syndromes sharing overeating but with different pathways to excessive food intake.
Subject(s)
Anxiety/psychology , Bulimia Nervosa/psychology , Circadian Rhythm , Feeding and Eating Disorders/psychology , Sleep Wake Disorders/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Anxiety/diagnosis , Anxiety/therapy , Body Mass Index , Bulimia Nervosa/diagnosis , Bulimia Nervosa/therapy , Energy Intake , Feeding and Eating Disorders/diagnosis , Feeding and Eating Disorders/therapy , Female , Hospitalization , Humans , Interview, Psychological , Male , Middle Aged , Motivation , Obesity/diagnosis , Obesity/psychology , Obesity/therapy , Personality Inventory/statistics & numerical data , Psychometrics , Sleep Wake Disorders/diagnosis , Sleep Wake Disorders/therapy , Young AdultABSTRACT
This study investigated whether if socioeconomic factors and\or food palatability influence food amount evaluation among children. Ninety-four children, 10-15 years old, living in Mali in Africa, and 124 living in northern Italy were asked to evaluate an amount of palatable and non palatable candies. The evaluations were compared both to the real number of candies and to that given by the other group. Both Italian and Malian children underestimated the edible candies, interestingly however Malian children did not underestimate altered candies. The data suggest that food dose underestimation is a transcultural characteristic. Evaluation of palatable food is not influenced by socio cultural factors. Underestimation could be a biological protective factor against food shortage; in case of food abundance it could play a role in onset and maintenance of obesity.
Subject(s)
Black People/psychology , Candy , Cross-Cultural Comparison , Developing Countries , Feeding Behavior/psychology , Judgment , Psychosocial Deprivation , White People/psychology , Adolescent , Appetite , Child , Color Perception , Culture , Female , Food Deprivation , Humans , Italy , Male , Mali , Smell , Taste , Visual PerceptionABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The study compares visual evaluation of an amount of food and an amount of nonedible objects in patients affected by Anorexia Nervosa and control subjects. METHOD: 59 anorexic subjects were asked to evaluate an amount of candies and plastic bricks shown to them. Their answers were compared to both the real number of objects and the parallel evaluations given by 56 control subjects. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in stimuli evaluation between patients affected by AN and control subjects. Both groups reported a significantly lower number of both candies and bricks in comparison to their real number. DISCUSSION: In an experimental condition not related with food intake there is the same under-evaluation of the amount of presented food and nonedible objects among patients affected by AN and Control Subjects. The clinical finding of overestimation of food intake among patients affected by AN seems not to be due to a perceptive bias.
