The relationship between eating behaviours and daily energy intakes of students at the department of architecture at a university

Susceptibility to weight gain is affected by a lot of factors. Eating behaviour is one of these factors which influences energy intake. The aim of this study was to examine the relations between emotional, external and restrained eating behaviours and daily energy intake. The sample was composed of 224 students which studied at the department of architecture at a University in İstanbul. Eating behaviours were assessed with the Turkish Version of Dutch Eating Behaviour Questionnaire (DEBQ). 24-hour food recall questionnaire was used to determine daily energy intake. Reliability of questionnaire and subscales was found to be high (Cronbach's Alpha value for the questionnaire 0,897). Spearmen correlation was used to analyze the relations between eating behaviours and daily energy intake of participants. Distinctly from Turkish reliability and validity study of DEBQ, it was detected that, besides the evaluation of emotional eating, external eating and restrained eating behaviour, the questionnaire may also be used for the evaluation of disinhibited eating behaviour. This study showed that restrained eating behaviour was negatively related to daily energy intake (p≤0.01). External eating behaviour was found to be positively related to daily energy intake (p≤0.05). Emotional and disinhibited eating behaviours were not related to daily energy intake. Although restrained eating was negatively related to daily energy intake, it was positively related to Body Mass Index (BMI) (p≤0.01). Total oppositely from this, there was not found a relation between external eating behaviour and BMI. In conclusion, although restrained eating behaviour decrease daily energy intake, it may cause weight gain. Emotional eating, external eating and disinhibited eating behaviours do not affect weight status.