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. 2021 Jul 19;11(1):14717.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-94279-1.

Analyzing the link between anxiety and eating behavior as a potential pathway to eating-related health outcomes

Felix S Hussenoeder  1 , Ines Conrad  2 , Christoph Engel  3 , Silke Zachariae  3 , Samira Zeynalova  3 , Heide Glaesmer  4 , Andreas Hinz  4 , Veronika Witte  5 , Anke Tönjes  6 , Markus Löffler  3 , Michael Stumvoll  6 , Arno Villringer  5 , Steffi G Riedel-Heller  2
Affiliations

Analyzing the link between anxiety and eating behavior as a potential pathway to eating-related health outcomes

Felix S Hussenoeder et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Anxiety is a widespread phenomenon that affects various behaviors. We want to analyze in how far anxiety is connected to eating behaviors since this is one potential pathway to understanding eating-related health outcomes like obesity or eating disorders. We used data from the population-based LIFE-Adult-Study (n = 5019) to analyze the connection between anxiety (GAD-7) and the three dimensions of eating behaviors (FEV)-Cognitive Restraint, Disinhibition, and Hunger-while controlling for sociodemographic variables, smoking, physical activity, personality, and social support. Multivariate regression analyses showed significant positive associations between anxiety and Disinhibition as well as Hunger, but not between anxiety and Cognitive Restraint. Interventions that help individuals to better regulate and cope with anxiety, could be one potential pathway to reducing eating disorders and obesity in the population.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

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