Pleasure or pain? Higher emotional dysregulation and both hedonic and emotion-al eating in women with different levels of binge-eating episodes

Binge eating involves consuming unusually large amounts of food in a short period, while emotional eating refers to eating in response to negative emotions. Both behaviors are associated with difficulties in emotional regulation. Furthermore, the hedonic appeal of foods, particularly those high in fat and sugar, can also contribute to overeating. This study aimed to analyze the differences between increasing levels of binge eating in emotional and hedonic eating, and their relationship with emotional regulation and body mass index (BMI). A total of 143 adult cisgender women (aged 18-59) completed the Binge Eating Scale, the Garaulet Emotional Eating Questionnaire, the Power of Food Scale, and the Emotional Regulation Difficulties Scale.:Participants with higher levels of binge eating showed greater emotional dysregulation, as well as higher levels of both emotional and hedonic eating and BMI. However, emotional dysregulation and BMI did not predict differences in the two types of eating behavior. The findings are discussed through various perspectives, including responsiveness to a caloric food environment, restrictive eating patterns, impulsivity, and weight bias, which may induce stress in individuals with higher BMI. We propose that interventions focused on intuitive or conscious eating could help address these issues