Characterizing naturalistic meal timing, energy intake, and macronutrient intake among individuals with loss of control eating.

Binge eating demonstrates an evening diurnal shift among individuals with eating disorders. Disruptions to diurnal appetitive rhythms may be somewhat chronic and set the stage for additional disruptions to prompt binge eating. Despite known diurnal shifts in binge eating and related constructs (e.g., mood) and detailed characterizations of binge-eating episodes, no findings to date describe the naturalistic diurnal timing and composition of energy and nutrient intake on days with and without loss of control eating. We aimed to characterize eating behaviors (i.e., meal timing, energy intake, and macronutrient composition) across seven days in individuals with binge-spectrum eating disorders, assessing differences between eating episodes and days with and without loss of control eating. Undergraduate students (N = 51; 76.5% female) who endorsed past 28-day loss of control eating completed a 7-day naturalistic ecological momentary assessment protocol. Participants completed daily food diaries and reported instances of loss of control eating across the 7-day period. Results indicated that episodes of loss of control were more likely to occur later in the day, but overall meal timing did not differ across days with and without loss of control. Similarly, greater caloric consumption was more likely for episodes with loss of control, but overall caloric consumption did not differ between days with and without loss of control. Analysis of nutritional content demonstrated differences between both episodes and days with and without loss of control for carbohydrates and total fats, but not for protein. Findings provide support for the hypothesized role disruptions in diurnal appetitive rhythms play in maintaining binge eating via consistent irregularities, underscoring the importance of examining treatment adjuncts that intervene on the regulation of meal timing to enhance eating disorder treatment outcomes.

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