Background. Prisoners in Nazi concentration camps lived through extreme sit
uations that included starvation. We test our hypothesis that there is a gr
eater lifetime presence of binge eating among survivors from concentration
camps than in a control group.
Methods. The subjects were 51 political prisoners who survived Nazi concent
ration camps and 47 ex-partisans of similar age and sex. A clinical intervi
ew investigated the lifetime occurrence of binge eating. The Eating Attitud
es Test was also administered.
Results. The mean reported loss of weight among survivors was 27.3 kg. Thir
ty-three per cent of them and 4% of the ex-partisans reported going on eati
ng binges at some time in their lives (P < 0.0007). There was no significan
t difference in the Eating Attitudes Test scores of survivors and ex-partis
ans, but, among survivors, the Bulimia subscale significantly discriminated
subjects who reported current binge eating.
Conclusions. Our study confirms that subjects who have survived a period of
extreme food deprivation are more likely to develop binge eating behaviour
.