Intermittent fasting is a “diet” widely disseminated on social media as something simple to reproduce, despite the lack of solid scientific evidence about its effectiveness and safety. Several studies, in fact, show her problems, including a more recent one, carried out by researchers at the University of São Paulo, showing the risks of this eating behavior.
Made with students from the university itself, the search showed how people who reported fasting in the last three months before the interview showed an increase in binge eating and food cravings. “Those with severe binge episodes had a 140% higher rate of fasting hours compared to non-bingers. Furthermore, with each increase in the food desire scale, there was also an increase in fasting hours”, details Jônatas de Oliveira, author of the study, in interview with Jornal da USP.
To reach this conclusion, Oliveira and his team evaluated 458 USP students, including people who had fasted and not fasted in the previous three months. An online interview was carried out that compared levels of cognitive restriction, binge eating, food cravings and consumption of “forbidden” foods. Then, a model was used to examine the association between fasting hours and disordered eating traits. They arrived at the following results:
- The rate of fasting hours practiced is 115% higher among compulsive eaters compared to those who did not binge eat;
- The rate of fasting hours is 29% higher in participants with moderate binge eating, increasing to 140% in people with severe binge eating;
- When checking food cravings, the hour rate was 2% higher for each increase in the scale unit.
It is important to emphasize that the study did not diagnose eating disorders, as this must be done through a clinical interview. But it was possible to understand the level of compulsivity. “Within the spectrum of compulsivity, there is low weight bingeing, bingeing together with purging and there is also isolated bingeing. It’s as if they were categories for a possible diagnosis of an eating disorder”, says Oliveira.
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This content was originally published in Intermittent fasting increases binge eating, shows Brazilian study on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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