Eating patterns in normal weight individuals: Bulimia, restrained eating; and the night eating syndrome

Prevalence of eating behaviors and components of three patterns—bulimia, restrained eating, night eating syndrome (NESI—are described in 232 normal weight adults. Some components of eating patterns occurred frequently fe.g., guilt about eating), but items suggesting pathology were rare (e.g., self-in- duced vomiting). The prevalence of bulimia and NES is under 1 %, whereas 14% manifested the restrained eating pattern. More women than men man- ifest bulimic and restrained eating patterns; sexes were comparable on NES. Although the restrained eating pattern and bulimia were highly correlated, neither was correlated with NES or with attributes associated with NES.