Evaluating dietary restriction as a maintaining factor in binge-eating disorder

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Clinical Psychology
• Eating Disorders Research

Background:

• Prominent theories suggest dietary restriction precipitates binge-eating (BE) episodes.
• Treatment for eating disorders often aims to reduce dietary restriction to improve BE symptoms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To test the hypothesis that dietary restriction promotes BE in individuals with binge-eating disorder (BED).

Main Methods:

• 112 individuals with BED completed a 7-day ecological momentary assessment (EMA) protocol before and after 17 weeks of treatment.
• Analyses examined if dietary restriction predicted BE risk and if changes in restriction predicted changes in BE across treatment.

Main Results:

• Dietary restriction did not predict same-day BE, nor did changes in restriction correlate with changes in BE across treatment.
• One-day dietary restriction predicted increased BE risk the following day only for individuals with higher baseline dietary restraint.

Conclusions:

• Findings challenge the assumption that dietary restriction universally maintains BE in BED.
• Results suggest dietary restriction may be largely unrelated to BE maintenance in this population, and reducing it may not improve BE frequency.