[Asynchronous age- and sex- associated changes in relationship between eating behavior and body mass index]

Eating behavior associated with overeating constitutes a key risk factor for obesity. Age- and sex-associated changes in the relationship between eating behavior and obesity are poorly understood. The aim of the present study was to investigate the age and sex effect in the relationship between eating behavior and body mass index (BMI).

Each participant of cross-sectional study (n=2315, age - 30.3±20.7, range - 15-95 years, females - 77.7%) provided personal data (sex, age, height, and weight) and completed two questionnaires: the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire, which assessed restrained (RES), external (EXT), and emotional (EMO) eating behavior, and the Yale Food Addiction Scale, which assessed food addiction (FA). Analysis of covariance and multiple regression analysis were used to assess the association between the indicators.

As age increased from 15 to 95 years, the average BMI values (p<0.0001) and the frequency of detection of overweight and obesity increased (from 9.3 to 69.8%, р<0.0001), while the frequency of detection of FA (from 13.1 to 5.1%, р<0.0001), and average values of RES, EMO, and EXT (p<0.0001) decreased. Anthropometric signs of overweight and obesity were more pronounced in males (p<0.0001), while signs characterizing eating behavior, with the exception of EXT, were more pronounced in females (p<0.0001). In the age group 15-29 years the predictors of BMI were RES (β=0.35), EMO (β=0.16), and FA (β=0.21), in the 30-49-year-olds - EMO (β=0.35), and in the 50-69-year-olds - FA (β=0.15), RES (β=0.16) and EXT (β=0.17). There were no associations between eating behavior and BMI in people older than 70 years. In females, the predictors of BMI were RES (β=0.23), EMO (β=0.11), and FA (β=0.13), and in males, RES (β=0.33) and FA (β=0.14).

From adolescence to old age, there is a steady increase in the risk of overweight and obesity, more pronounced in men, and a decrease in the incidence of eating abnormalities, more pronounced in women. The age and sex of study participants have a significant impact on the relationship between eating behavior and body mass index.