Test meal intake in obese binge eaters in relation to mood and gender

Objective: We assessed test meal intake in men and women with and without b inge eating disorder (BED) in relation to mood score (Zung scale). Methods: Eighty-five overweight subjects (24 males and 61 females) participated; 30 subjects with BED and 55 without BED. Following an 8-hr fast, subjects con sumed a liquid test meal until extremely full. Results: BED subjects consum ed significantly more (p = .009) of tile test meal (1,032 g +/- 429) than t he non-binge eaters (737 g +/- 399). The men ingested more than the women ( p = .002). BED subjects also had higher depression scores (p = .01) without differing by gender. However, depression scores were unrelated to test mea l intakes (r = -.01). Discussion: The larger meal intakes of the BED group may be due to the larger stomach capacity previously found in both bulimics and obese subjects. The findings also support the premise that BED, listed in the DSM-IV appendix for further study, is found in a distinct subgroup of overweight individuals. (C) 2001 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.