Food thought suppression: A matched comparison of obese individuals with and without binge eating disorder

Abstract

Preliminary studies of non-clinical samples suggest that purposely attempting to avoid thoughts of food, referred to as food thought suppression, is related to a number of unwanted eating- and weight-related consequences, particularly in obese individuals. Despite possible implications for the treatment of obesity and eating disorders, little research has examined food thought suppression in obese individuals with binge eating disorder (BED). This study compared food thought suppression in 60 obese patients with BED to an age-, gender-, and body mass index (BMI)-matched group of 59 obese persons who do not binge eat (NBO). In addition, this study examined the associations between food thought suppression and eating disorder psychopathology within the BED and NBO groups and separately by gender. Participants with BED and women endorsed the highest levels of food thought suppression. Food thought suppression was significantly and positively associated with many features of ED psychopathology in NBO women and with eating concerns in men with BED. Among women with BED, higher levels of food thought suppression were associated with higher frequency of binge eating, whereas among men with BED, higher levels of food thought suppression were associated with lower frequency of binge eating. Our findings suggest gender differences in the potential significance of food thought suppression in obese groups with and without co-existing binge eating problems.

Food Thought Suppression Inventory: Test–retest reliability and relationship to weight loss treatment outcomes

“…Like previous studies, we found that food thought suppression correlated positively with binge-eating frequency (Barnes & Tantleff-Dunn, 2010b; Barnes & White, 2010) and participants diagnosed with BED reported higher levels of food thought suppression compared to participants without BED (Barnes et al, 2011). Changes in binge-eating frequency over treatment, however, were unrelated to the FTSI.…”

“…Thus, food thought suppression may be a relatively consistent coping trait analogous to thought suppression, more broadly (Höping & de Jong-Meyer, 2003; Muris et al, 1996). Similar FTSI scores between the sexes replicated a comparison of treatment-seeking individuals with obesity and BED (Barnes et al, 2013a) but this difference is not documented in studies of community participants (Barnes & Tantleff-Dunn, 2010b; Barnes et al, 2011), perhaps reflecting ceiling effects in treatment-seeking samples.…”

“…The FTSI includes a single, reliable, and valid factor of food thought suppression and was validated within community samples of women (Barnes, Fisak, & Tantleff-Dunn, 2010), men (Barnes & White, 2010), and women with obesity and binge eating disorder (BED; Barnes, Sawaoka, White, Masheb, & Grilo, 2013b). Women tend to score higher on food thought suppression than men, as do individuals with obesity and BED compared to individuals with obesity only (Barnes, Masheb, & Grilo, 2011). …”

“…Barnes & White, 2010; Barnes et al, 2010), suggesting that food thought suppression is distinct from, albeit related to, general thought suppression. The FTSI was related to increased eating disorder psychopathology (Barnes, Masheb, White, & Grilo, 2013a; Barnes et al, 2011), weight cycling (Barnes & Tantleff-Dunn, 2010a), food cravings (Van Gucht, Soetens, Raes, & Griffith, 2014) and binge-eating episodes (Barnes & Tantleff-Dunn, 2010b; Barnes et al, 2010, 2011), and higher body mass indices (Barnes & Tantleff-Dunn, 2010b; Barnes et al, 2010; Rodríguez-Martín, Gil-Pérez, & Pérez-Morales, 2015). …”

Examining the relationship between food thought suppression and binge eating disorder

“…Although Ward and colleagues posited a link between thought suppression and binge eating over 15 years ago [16], only recently has this hypothesis received empirical attention in nonclinical [17,18] and clinical [19] samples. Food thought suppression may have even greater significance for obese persons with disordered eating such as binge eating disorder (BED).…”