Psychological, morphological and dietic aspects of violations of food behavior of young people

Abstract

Background: The article shows that the development of obesity and associated health disorders is directly related to the changes in eating behavior (EB) and the psychoemotional state. However, the considered studies were carried out in obese patients of medical institutions only. The research in young people focuses mainly on the sociological and psychological aspects of EB.Aim: To study the psychological characteristics, eating behavior features and their relationship with the indicators of actual nutrition and the body composition in young men.Materials and methods: A multicenter, cross-sectional sample survey of young men aged 17 to 21 was performed. A survey of violations of the EB was carried out, on the basis of which 5 groups of young men were formed. Group 1 (comparison) consisted of young men without violations of the EB. Group 2 consisted of young men with impaired emotiogenic EB. Group 3 consisted of boys with violations of the restrictive PP; group 4 — young men with impaired external EB; group 5 — young men with a combination of impairment of emotionogenic and restrictive EB. We used the Dutch DEBQ questionnaire to study the types of eating behavior. The current mental state of the testees was evaluated by a clinical and psychological test — Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). The body composition was assessed with the ABC-01 «Medass» bioimpedansometry device. The «Analysis of the human nutritional state” computer program was applied to estimate the actual nutrition by the frequency analysis method.Results: The study included 96 volunteers. Young men with impaired external EB feature an increase in the daily average energy consumption, which resulted in an increase in BFM%. In young people with eating disorders, an increase in scores on the «Somatization», «Obsession-compulsion», and «Anxiety» scales as compared to the reference valuesis testified. The depression level in young men correlated with the severity of emotiogenic eating behavior (r = 0.455, p <0.001).However, it is associated with the severity of external EB to a greater extent (r = 0.608, p <0.001). On the contrary, the anxiety level more strongly correlated with the severity of emotiogenic EB (r = 0.575, p <0.001) rather than of external EB type (r = 0.391, p <0.001).Conclusion: EB disorders in young men are associated with psychophysiological features, eating disorders accounting for the accumulation of adipose tissue in the body.