An evaluation of the emotional eating statuses and body compositions of individuals referred to A private nutrition and diet polyclinic

The study was conducted to assess the emotional eating statuses and body compositions of 75 individuals between the ages of 18 and 65 who were referred to the Department of Nutrition and Diet at a private polyclinic in Istanbul. The sociodemographic characteristics, nutrition statuses, statuses of physical activity, and body compositions of the participants were examined, and the emotional eating, restrained eating, and external eating statuses were assessed with the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ). The individuals had a mean age of 37,27±11,48 and are comprised of 76% females and 24% males. It was noted that 18,3% of participants had a psychological disorder like anxiety or depression and that 20,5% used antidepressant medications. While 63,2% of the females were located in the category of obese based on BMI average (31,96±5,43 kg/m²), while 77,8% of the males were located in the category of obese based on the average BMI (33,06±4,80 kg/m²). It was seen that the average body fat percentage in the female participants was (33,06%±9,79) did not pass the boundary of obesity (>35%) but approached it. The average body fat percentage of the male participants (31,82%±11,79) exceeded the boundary of obesity (>25%). While they noted that 61,3% of individuals skipped a meal, the most skipped meal (46,8%) was lunch. The emotional eating scores of those who skipped meals were significantly higher than of those who did not skip meals (p<0,05). They reported that 32% of the participants ate food, waking up in the middle of the night and that they most commonly (37,1%) consumed sweet foods like chocolate, wafers, and biscuits. A significant majority of the participants (77,3%) stated that their emotions affect their nutritional conditions. It was seen that both when the individuals were stressed, tense, and irritated and when they were happy and cheerful they leaned towards sweet foods like chocolate, wafers, and biscuits. No significant difference could be found between gender and emotional and external eating scores (p>0,05). The restrained eating score of the female participants was significantly greater than that of the male participants (p<0,05). The role of emotional eating must be considered in eating behaviors. There is a need for more research on these topics, including restrained and external eating behaviors. Keywords: Eating behavior, emotional eating, restrained eating, external eating obesity