The role of stress in the association among food insecurity, eating disorder pathology, and binge eating-related appetitive traits.

PURPOSE: Growing literature demonstrates a positive association between food insecurity (FI) and eating disorder pathology. Additionally, FI has been associated with two appetitive traits strongly linked to binge eating, food responsiveness and emotional overeating. However, little research has investigated factors that might help to explain these associations. One hypothesis is that experiencing FI may increase stress, and that eating disorder pathology, particularly binge eating-related phenotypes, may serve as a coping strategy. This study explores stress as a potential mechanism in the association between FI and general eating disorder pathology, as well as two appetitive traits strongly associated with binge eating (food responsiveness and emotional overeating). METHODS: Cis-gender women (N = 634) completed online questionnaires assessing FI, stress, eating disorder pathology (measured via the total score on the Short Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire), and binge eating-related appetitive traits (measured via the Adult Eating Behavior Questionnaire). Cross-sectional indirect effects analyses with a 1000-sample bootstrap were used to test pathways among FI, stress, and eating-related constructs. RESULTS: FI was significantly associated with eating disorder pathology and associated appetitive traits (ps < 0.001). Stress explained a significant proportion of the correlation between FI and each eating-related construct. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings extend prior research on the relationships between FI, eating disorder pathology, and binge eating-related appetitive traits to provide preliminary evidence that stress may act as an underlying mechanism. Future studies should use longitudinal designs to assess the prospective relationships among these constructs.

Associations between objective physical activity and emotional eating among adiposity-discordant siblings using ecological momentary assessment and accelerometers.

BACKGROUND: Emotional eating is associated with obesity, though less is known regarding factors that predict emotional eating episodes in children and adolescents. OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) or total activity counts 60 minutes prior to psychological stress predicted stress-related eating and positive emotional eating (ie, eating while happy), and whether adiposity (z-BMI) moderated these associations. METHODS: Participants were drawn from a prior study of siblings (N = 77; mean age = 15.4 ± 1.4 years) discordant for weight status (39 non-overweight siblings, 38 siblings with overweight/obesity) who completed an ecological momentary assessment protocol with accelerometer-based assessment of physical activity. RESULTS: Greater MVPA was associated with lower stress-related eating across the sample. Lower total activity (between-person effects) and lower MVPA (within-person effects) were associated with greater stress-related eating for siblings with greater z-BMI. Greater total activity was associated with lower positive emotional eating for siblings with lower z-BMI (between- and within-person). CONCLUSIONS: Findings demonstrate potential regulating effects of prior physical activity on emotional eating at the individual and momentary level, though there are nuances depending on z-BMI. Future work is needed to examine underlying mechanisms and timescale of effects, and particularly the extent to which enhancing MVPA time among youth with z-BMI may mitigate momentary risk of stress-related eating episodes.