A recent study published in the journal Appetite investigates the extent to which body mass index (BMI) is associated with progression from binge-eating behavior to binge-eating disorder (BED). Study: Association of body mass index with progression from binge-eating behavior into binge-eating disorder among adolescents in the United States: A prospective analysis of pooled data. Image Credit: Doucefleur / Shutterstock.
com BED is defined as recurrent instances of eating large amounts of food in a short period, at least once a week for three months. BED, which also involves loss of eating control (LOC), is the most widely prevalent eating disorder in the United States. Significant social and economic costs are associated with BED, in addition to its adverse effects on an individual's well-being.
Importantly, an individual can engage in binge eating behaviors, which are relatively less severe than BED. In fact, among adolescents in the U.S.
, the prevalence of binge-eating behaviors is 2.5%. Nevertheless, previous research has reported a progression of binge-eating behavior into BED in 10-28% of U.
S. adolescent girls. Thus, it is imperative to understand BED risk in early adolescents to prevent or enact early intervention strategies to minimize the adverse effects of BED.
The present study used data on 9,964 adolescents between nine and 13 years of age at enrollment from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. Binge-eating behaviors and BED were established throu.
