The overall purpose of this proposal is to investigate the psychological and behavioral responses to meal eating in eating disorder patients and control persons. Disturbed eating behavior in the disorders of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa continues long after the patients have returned to a normal weight and have ceased bingeing and purging a systematic """"""""microstructure"""""""" study of meal-eating behavior in these eating disorders should provide valuable information for treatment strategies. People suffering from eating disorders (anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa) appear to have different food-taste preferences and cognitive sets toward foods and impaired perception of satiety as compared with control subjects. Much of the data demonstrating these differences come from studies using atypical food items. It is the purpose of this proposal to examine these variables when eating disorder subjects and normal weight """"""""restrained"""""""" and """"""""unrestrained"""""""" eaters are offered typical meal items and asked to eat normally. Food consumption and perception of hunger and satiety will be studied offering subjects single-item or multi-item meals composed of normal foods with varying macronutrient profiles. We will examine the sequence of macronutrient intake and the effect of variety of food-taste preferences and hunger and satiety in the multi-item meals and the relationship of macronutrient type to those variables in single-item meals. Attitudes (preferences emotions) toward foods of varying macronutrient composition will be assessed to determine cognitive sets toward foods. By testing eating disorder subjects before and after treatment, we can examine the interaction of physiological state (weight status, presence of bingeing and purging, BMI) with consumption of macronutrients, satiety and taste. Our hypotheses are; 1. The physiological state will effect macronutrient selection and intake, satiety and taste preferences. 2. After weight recovery and cessation of bingeing and purging, preferential macronutrient selection and intake, satiety and taste preferences will distinguish eating disorder subgroups and normal weight controls denoting stable trait characteristics. Information from this study should be useful for devising more effective treatment strategies, especially in the areas of nutritional counseling and pharmacological interventions for eating disorders.
| Sunday, S R; Halmi, K A (1996) Micro- and macroanalyses of patterns within a meal in anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Appetite 26:21-36 |
| Sunday, S R; Einhorn, A; Halmi, K A (1992) Relationship of perceived macronutrient and caloric content to affective cognitions about food in eating-disordered, restrained, and unrestrained subjects. Am J Clin Nutr 55:362-71 |
| Halmi, K A; Sunday, S R (1991) Temporal patterns of hunger and fullness ratings and related cognitions in anorexia and bulimia. Appetite 16:219-37 |
