Emotional Eating, Weight Gain, Mental Issues: Vicious Cycle

TOPLINE:

Financial hardship, reduced physical activity, increased leisure screen time, depressive and anxiety symptoms, and emotional eating were linked to an increase in body mass index (BMI) over a 4-year follow-up period, with emotional eating partially mediating the link between baseline anxiety and depressive symptoms and BMI trajectories, an adult population–based cohort found.

METHODOLOGY:

Previous studies have shown a bidirectional link between overweight and obesity and poor mental health outcomes; however, research on the relationship between weight change and mental health over time is limited.
Researchers analyzed data from Specchio, a population-based digital study launched in 2020 in Switzerland, to explore the relationship between weight gain and mental health, with an emphasis on emotional eating and body dissatisfaction as mediators, over the course of 4 years.
This study involved 7388 adult participants (59% women; mean age, 51 years) who self-reported their weight at registration in Specchio and at three follow-up points (2022, 2023, and 2024) and their height at registration and two follow-up points (2023 and 2024). Questionnaires assessed behavioral factors (physical activity, diet, alcohol consumption, sleep patterns, leisure time, antidepressant use, and emotional eating) and psychosocial factors (social and psychological resources and risks).
The relationships between behavioral and psychosocial factors and BMI trajectories, as well as the impact of these BMI trajectories on mental health outcomes, were analyzed using regressions adjusted for age, sex, education, and physical health conditions.

TAKEAWAY:

Less physical activity, less fruit and vegetable consumption, increased leisure screen time, short sleep duration, antidepressant use, financial hardship, loneliness, and symptoms of depression and anxiety were associated with an increase in BMI over 4 years.
The link between emotional eating and BMI was stronger among women and physically inactive individuals.
Increasing BMI was related to body dissatisfaction and lower quality of life but not to anxiety and depressive symptoms at follow-up after adjusting for age, sex, education, physical comorbidities, and anxiety and depression at baseline.
Emotional eating partially mediated the relationship between baseline anxiety and depressive symptoms and increasing BMI, as well as between financial hardship and increasing BMI.
Body dissatisfaction and poorer self-rated health partially mediated the association between increasing BMI and quality of life at follow-up after adjustment for anxiety and depressive symptoms at baseline.

IN PRACTICE:

“Understanding the role of modifiable risk factors for overweight and obesity, as well as associated health outcomes, is central to developing effective prevention and intervention strategies,” the study authors wrote.

SOURCE:

This study, led by Stephanie Schrempft, PhD, Division of Primary Care Medicine, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland, was published online in the International Journal of Obesity.

LIMITATIONS:

This study relied on self-reported height and weight measurements. BMI is a measure of body adiposity and does not distinguish between excess fat, muscle, or bone mass. The researchers could not differentiate between typical and atypical depression, which may have different associations with body adiposity.

DISCLOSURES:

The Specchio cohort study was funded by the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health; the General Directorate of Health of the Department of Safety, Employment, and Health of the canton of Geneva; the private foundation of Geneva University Hospitals; the Swiss School of Public Health; and the Grangettes Foundation. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.