Evaluation of the relationship between alexithymi,emotional eating, diet quality and healthy lifestylehabits in women

Alexithymia, defined as difficulty in recognizing and expressing emotions, is associated with unhealthy eating behaviors such as emotional eating, which may negatively affect diet quality and lifestyle habits. In this study, it was aimed to examine the alexithymia status, emotional eating, diet quality and healthy lifestyle habits of female individuals. The study was conducted face-to-face with 305 female individuals between the ages of 19-65 living in Ankara. A questionnaire form including general information, health information and anthropometric measurements, Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ), Healthy Lifestyle Behaviors Scale-2 (HLSBS-2), Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) were used to collect the study data. As a result of the study, it was observed that alexithymic individuals had higher DEBQ total and DEBQ emotional eating scores compared to non-alexithymic individuals (p<0.05). When the DQI-I scores and subscale scores of the participants were analyzed according to their alexithymia status, no statistically significant difference was found (p>0.05). Examining the SYBDÖ-2 total and subscale scores according to alexithymic status revealed that borderline alexithymic participants had higher total and subscale scores than non-alexithymic participants, and that alexithymic participants had higher total and nutrition subscale scores than non-alexithymic participants (p <0,05). Additionally, alexithymic individuals were found to have higher DASS-21 total and subscale scores than non-alexithymic individuals (p <0,05). These results suggest that alexithymia significantly impacts emotional eating behaviour and that individuals with alexithymia, who struggle to recognise and express their emotions, may use food to regulate their emotions, potentially leading to obesity.