Emotional eating, alexithymia and weight gain in healthy young adults

Emotional Eating (EE) is the tendency to overeat to cope with negative emotions and stressful situations. It was reported in excessive body weight and pathological eating behaviors. EE could be expressed as an eating behavior associated with emotional dysregulation. Accordingly, alexithymia (i.e., a stable personality trait indicating emotional dysregulation) is frequently correlated to high EE levels in individuals with obesity or eating disorders. This study aims to verify the relationship between alexithymia, EE, and weight status in a healthy sample. Eighty-four healthy young adults with normal weight and without eating disorders (mean age: 23.38±2.50) participate in the study. The Italian version of the Dutch Eating Questionnaire and the 20-items Toronto Alexithymia Scale were adopted to assess EE and alexithymia. Physiological indices of body condition (body mass index, body adiposity index, and waist-to-heigh ratio) were measured. EE correlated positively with weight indices (p< 0.03). No significant association emerged between alexithymia and EE, nor between alexithymia and weight. The results of the study confirmed an association between weight status and EE even in a healthy sample. However, the early association between alexithymia and EE was disconfirmed. The absence of pathological alexithymia could justify this result. According to previous literature, the study would indicate that alexithymia could be related to EE only in severe weight conditions, as a component of a larger set of emotional dysregulation mechanisms that can influence weight gain through dysfunctional eating behaviors. It would be interesting to investigate EE in a sample of people with high levels of alexithymia. Emotional dysregulation and EE could be considered subthreshold variables capable of affecting BMI only when associated with predisposing environmental and social factors, which should be explored in future studies to prevent the risk of overweight. Emotional Eating (EE) is the tendency to overeat to cope with negative emotions and stressful situations. It was reported in excessive body weight and pathological eating behaviors. EE could be expressed as an eating behavior associated with emotional dysregulation. Accordingly, alexithymia (i.e., a stable personality trait indicating emotional dysregulation) is frequently correlated to high EE levels in individuals with obesity or eating disorders. This study aims to verify the relationship between alexithymia, EE, and weight status in a healthy sample. Eighty-four healthy young adults with normal weight and without eating disorders (mean age: 23.38±2.50) participate in the study. The Italian version of the Dutch Eating Questionnaire and the 20- items Toronto Alexithymia Scale were adopted to assess EE and alexithymia. Physiological indices of body condition (body mass index, body adiposity index, and waist-to-heigh ratio) were measured. EE correlated positively with weight indices (p< 0.03). No significant association emerged between alexithymia and EE, nor between alexithymia and weight. The results of the study confirmed an association between weight status and EE even in a healthy sample. However, the early association between alexithymia and EE was disconfirmed. The absence of pathological alexithymia could justify this result. According to previous literature, the study would indicate that alexithymia could be related to EE only in severe weight conditions, as a component of a larger set of emotional dysregulation mechanisms that can influence weight gain through dysfunctional eating behaviors. It would be interesting to investigate EE in a sample of people with high levels of alexithymia. Emotional dysregulation and EE could be considered subthreshold variables capable of affecting BMI only when associated with predisposing environmental and social factors, which should be explored in future studies to prevent the risk of overweight.