Eating habits and night snacking patterns of young women at risk for eating disorders

Abstract

Introduction: Nowadays, eating disorders are an emerging concern in India. Previous studies showed that early detection and intervention of eating disorders is positively related with a good prognosis. Eating disorders in India seems to be rising tremendously, despite this; there are very few published studies on eating pathology and prevalence of women with eating disorders in India. Eating disorders (EDs) are those disorders that comprise of irregular or undesirable eating practices. They are distinguished either by excessive intake or inadequate intake of food, followed by laxative abuse, self-induced vomiting, starvation, over exercising and so on which further lead to full blown eating disorders. With the increasing trend of social networking, poor eating habits and night snacking are a common practice seen in young adults that can further lead to low diet quality and development of serious health problems. Thus, appropriate techniques should be taken into consideration while giving nutrition education or intervention programs targeting young adults.Objective: To study the eating habits, night snacking patterns and nutrient intake of young women at risk of developing eating disorders.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 93 young women (42 at risk) with mean age of 21.5±1.7 years. Structured questionnaire was used to analyze the eating habits and snacking pattern. Nutrient intake was assessed using 3-day diet recall. Analyses were performed using SPSS software for Windows (version 25, 2017, IBM Corporation, Armonk, New York, and United State). Data are presented as Mean ± SD, median (minimum-maximum) or percentage. P