Influence of anxiety on binge eating in university students of the nutrition course

Abstract

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is an emotional state with psychological and physiological components, which is part of the normal spectrum of human experiences, and is a perfomance driver. Eating behavior in Periodic Eating Compulsion Disorder (BED) is characterized by the ingestion of large amounts of food in a limited period of time (up to two hours), accompanied by the feeling of loss of control over what or how much is eaten. The present study sought to evaluate a possible direct influence between the presence of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) on binge eating disorder (BED) and to analyze the relationship between body image and anxiety, targeting women students of a private University Center located in Brasí­lia - DF. Being carried out through two self-administered data collection questionnaires, the Food Compulsion Scale (ECAP), and the GAD-7 instrument. The Scale of Silhouettes was used to assess the perception of size, shape and body dissatisfaction. The sample consisted of 102 participants, of whom 15.3% had BED, 81.6% had GAD, 18.7% of students who had GAD also had BED. Body image was also verified, where 55.4% had body dissatisfaction and 82.2% viewed themselves as larger than the silhouette based on BMI. It is concluded that there is a direct relationship between anxiety and binge eating, and there is a relationship between anxiety and CAP in body image dissatisfaction.