Differences in Self-Reported Eating Behavior Between Night Eating Syndrome Subtypes

Abstract

ObjectivesTo examine differences in binge eating (BE), food addiction (FA), and night eating syndrome (NES) symptoms between potential NES subtypes, namely eating hyperphagia (EH) and nocturnal ingestions (NI) as proposed by Allison et al. (2010). NES remains an overlooked and poorly understood condition in clinical settings, thus additional research is warranted. It was hypothesized that the EH subtype would present more severe symptoms of BE, FA, and NES symptoms than the NI subtype and control group. MethodsData were collected from adult, U.S. Mturk workers. The Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ), Binge Eating Scale, and Yale Food Addiction Scale were used. Three groups were created using NEQ items. The EH group consisted of individuals who reported consuming >25% of daily calories after dinner with/without NI. Those who only reported NI (no EH) formed the NI group. Individuals who reported neither EH nor NI formed the control group. ResultsTotal sample consisted of 163 (48.8%) women and 171 (51.2%) men. The mean age was 36.5 (SD = 11.8). Almost half of the sample (45.5%) reported a normal body mass index (kg/m2), 30.5% were overweight and 24.0% were obese. The majority of the sample (76.0%) were white or Caucasian and 9.6% were Hispanic/Latinx. A series of analyses of variance and post-hoc comparisons were conducted to examine group differences. All groups differed significantly in terms of BE symptoms, F(2,331) = 32.01, P < .001, with the EH group (n = 97) reporting more BE symptoms than the NI (n = 69; P < .05) and control (n = 168; P < .05) groups. Similarly, all groups differed concerning FA symptoms, F(2,329) = 57.11, P < .001; after applying a Games-Howell correction, results indicated that the EH group reported more FA symptoms than the other groups. The difference in NEQ global scores between the EH and NI groups was marginally significant (P = .074), but still in the anticipated direction. ConclusionsIndividuals in the EH and NI groups had worse eating pathology than the control group, and individuals who fit within the EH subtype reported more severe symptoms of BE, FA, and global NES scores than those who only reported NI. Results from the current study support the existence of two NES subtypes and are relevant to NES assessment and treatment. Funding SourcesThe authors received no specific funding for this work.