Apple-shaped body types especially women are susceptible to binge eating: study

• comments
• 
• 

People of normal weight especially women who carry fat around their middle are more likely to binge eat or bouts of uncontrollable eating, according to a new study.

A study from Drexel University found that people with greater abdominal fat may be more susceptible to uncontrollable eating. Fat around the visceral area is said to be deadlier than being obese with up to 50 percent increased mortality rate.

"Eating disorders that are detected early are much more likely to be successfully treated. Although existing eating disorder risk models comprehensively address psychological factors, we know of very few biologically-based factors that help us predict who may be more likely to develop eating disorder behaviors," said Dr. Laura Berner, lead study author from the University, via Eureka Alert.

The researchers also found a link between body shape and the tendency for binge eating. Dr. Berner adds that how fat is distributed in the body may be a factor for "loss of control eating" and this could be used to identify and rehabilitate people through interventions to help prevent eating disorders.

"This sense of loss of control is experienced across a range of eating disorder diagnoses: bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder and the binge-eating/purging sub-type of anorexia nervosa," Dr. Berner said, as reported by Daily Mail.

"We wanted to see if a measurable biological characteristic could help predict who goes on to develop this feeling, as research shows that individuals who feel this sense of loss of control over eating but don't yet have an eating disorder are more likely to develop one."

NBC News reports that abdominal fat is the reason for a person's "apple-shaped figure." There is increased risk for men who have more than 40 inches waistline and 35 inches above circumference for women. However, doctors still look at BMI (body mass index) to determine risk for disease. The report found that regardless of BMI, people with bigger fat in the middle have a higher mortality rate than those with smaller waists.

An obesity expert explained to the outlet that fat build up around the middle is associated with cardiovascular and certain metabolic disease. People with apple-shaped bodies have the tendency to have higher blood glucose and triglyceride levels.

Dr. Berner and colleagues admit that they do not know why the findings suggest that excess visceral fat is more dangerous than obesity.

"It's possible that this kind of fat distribution is not only psychologically distressing, but biologically influential through, for example, alterations in hunger and satiety signaling," she said, via Science Daily. "Fat cells release signals to the brain that influence how hungry or satiated we feel. Our study didn't include hormone assays, so we can't know for sure, but in theory it's possible that if a centralized distribution of fat alters the hunger and satiety messages it sends, it could make a person feel out of control while eating."