Assessing nutritional adequacy ratios in women with and without binge eating disorder: a comprehensive evaluation.

Backgrounds: Bing eating disorder (BED) has been associated with a number of health problems. Remarkably little research has been done to measure dietary intake in people who suffer from binge eating disorder. This study aimed to compare the dietary intake and nutrient adequacy ratio (NAR) between BED individuals and those without BED and also to investigate the association between BED and NAR.

Methods: In this cross- sectional study, 180 overweight and obese females who aged between 19 and 50 years old and with BMI between 25 and 40 kg/m² were interviewed. The women were categorized into BED and non- BED groups based on their earned score in Binge Eating Scale (BES) questionnaire. Nutritional adequacy ratio was assessed as Micronutrient adequacy ratio, Macronutrient adequacy ratio and total adequacy ratio (the sum of the previous two) based on last year's dietary intakes collected using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). The odds of binge eating disorder across the nutritional adequacy scores were assessed using multiple logistic regression models. Data were analyzed using SPSS software.

Results: About 41.6% (n = 75) of the subjects were diagnosed with BED. Carbohydrate, saturated fats, sugar levels were significantly higher in women with BED compared to non-BED women (P < 0.05). All vitamins, with the exception of Retinol, and all minerals' levels were significantly lower in BED participants (P < 0.05). Micronutrient adequacy score and total adequacy score differed significantly between individuals with and without BED (P < 0.001) and non- BED group were significantly more nutritional adequate. The odds of having BED were lower in micronutrient, macronutrient adequate individuals (OR = 0.87, 95% CI = 0.78-0.98, P = 0.02), (OR = 0.81, 95% CI = 0.66-0.99, P = 0.049) respectively.

Conclusion: Overall, the results demonstrate low intake of key micronutrients and high intake of saturated fatty acids and carbohydrates among binge sufferers. Also, the findings indicate that individuals with BED experience a notably lower nutrient adequacy ratio compared to their peers without the disorder, suggesting that the eating behaviors associated with BED such as high consumption of processed foods and diet with low quality may lead to inadequate intake of vital nutrients.