ORIGINAL ARTICLE   

Minerva Psychiatry 2022 March;63(1):28-36

DOI: 10.23736/S2724-6612.21.02254-5

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Effects of emotional eating on weight loss in women with obesity: assessing psychosocial mediators as treatment targets

James J. ANNESI ✉

Department of Nutrition Sciences, School of Health Professions, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

BACKGROUND: Emotional eating is related to obesity, and its reduction could lead to lower weight. However, psychosocial mechanisms of relationships between changes in emotional eating and weight that could inform treatments are poorly understood.
METHODS: Women with high levels (N.=60) and low levels (N.=96) of emotional eating participated in a community-based obesity treatment with a focus on increasing self-regulatory skills. They were assessed on body areas satisfaction, self-regulating eating, physical activity/exercise, and dimensions of emotional eating and mood, from baseline-month 3; and on weight from baseline-month 6.
RESULTS: Significant improvements were found in each variable overall, which were significantly greater in total negative mood, depression, anxiety, frustration, total emotional eating, and emotional eating related to depression, anxiety, and frustration in the high emotional eating group (who also had significantly higher scores on those measures at baseline). Weight loss was significantly predicted by reductions in each dimension of emotional eating. Serial multiple mediation analyses indicated changes in body satisfaction, mood, and self-regulation fully mediated emotional eating-weight change relationships. With total emotional eating change as the independent variable, a significant mediation path from changes in body satisfaction → mood → self-regulation was found. With the three dimensions of emotional eating as predictors, significant mediation paths from changes in body satisfaction → self-regulation were detected. Increased physical activity/exercise directly predicted weight loss, but did not significantly moderate the emotional eating-weight loss relationship.
CONCLUSIONS: Findings advanced theory, and informed behavioral obesity treatments to better-target emotional eating to improve lagging outcomes.

KEY WORDS: Feeding behavior; Body image; Affect; Self-control; Obesity; Exercise