Adolescent overeating and binge eating behavior in relation to subsequent cardiometabolic risk outcomes: a prospective cohort study

Abstract

Plain English summary We examined associations of overeating and binge eating behavior risk markers for future heart disease and diabetes. Adolescents (n = 619) in the Project Viva research study self-reported overeating and binge eating behavior on questionnaires completed in early adolescence (~ 13 years, “baseline”). In late adolescence (~ 17 years, “follow-up”), we collected research measures of body fat and blood pressure, and in a subset of participants, blood levels of cholesterol, fat-related hormones, liver dysfunction, and inflammation. We applied analytic methods to adjust for socio-demographics and to better understand how baseline weight could explain the associations. At baseline, 58 (9%) participants reported overeating behavior, and of those, 24 (41%) had binge eating behavior (e.g., overeating behavior accompanied by feeling loss of control). We found that adolescents reporting overeating behavior had higher later body fat and poorer inflammatory and fat hormone concentrations than those who did not report overeating. These associations were only partially explained by the fact that those with overeating also had higher baseline weight. Other markers of cardiometabolic risk in late adolescence were not different among those with or without overeating. Overall, our study suggests that overeating and binge eating behavior are associated with some higher markers of heart disease and diabetes risk.

Keywords

• Binge eating behavior
• Overeating behavior
• Adolescence
• Adiposity
• Inflammation
• Adipokines