Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2023 Jul;56(7):1301-1322.
doi: 10.1002/eat.23956. Epub 2023 Apr 11.

Food insecurity and binge eating: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Jessica A Abene  1 , Jiayi Tong  2 , Jeffrey Minuk  3 , Gretchen Lindenfeldar  4 , Yong Chen  2 , Ariana M Chao  1   5
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Food insecurity and binge eating: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Jessica A Abene et al. Int J Eat Disord. 2023 Jul.

Abstract
in English, Spanish

Objective: This review synthesized literature on the relationship between food insecurity and binge eating.

Methods: Relevant studies were identified by searching PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and gray literature from inception to October 2022. Eligible studies included primary research that assessed the relationship between food insecurity and binge eating. Data extraction was performed independently by two reviewers. Pooled odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were obtained from random effect models with the R package meta. Analyses were stratified by binge eating versus binge-eating disorder (BED), study type (cross-sectional vs. longitudinal), and age (adults vs. adolescents).

Results: We included 24 articles that reported on 20 studies, and 13 articles were included in the meta-analysis. Based on the random effects meta-analysis, the odds of adults in the food insecure group having binge eating were 1.66 (95% CI = 1.42, 1.93) times the odds of adults in the food secure group having binge eating. The odds of adults in the food insecure group having BED were 2.70 (95% CI = 1.47, 4.96) times the odds of adults in the food secure group having BED. Insufficient data were available for a meta-analysis on adolescents or longitudinal relationships.

Conclusions: These findings support that food insecurity is associated with binge eating in adults. There is a need for research to investigate the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Results highlight the importance of screening participants with food insecurity for disordered eating behaviors and vice versa. Future research is needed to examine whether interventions targeting food insecurity may help to mitigate disordered eating behaviors.

Public significance: Food insecurity is a common but under-recognized contributor to binge eating. In this article, we systematically reviewed research that has been published on the relationship between food insecurity and binge eating. We found support that food insecurity should be considered in the prevention and treatment of binge eating.

Objetivo: Esta revisión sintetizó la literatura sobre la relación entre la inseguridad alimentaria y comer en atracones. MÉTODOS: Los estudios relevantes se identificaron mediante búsquedas en PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO y literatura gris desde su inicio hasta octubre de 2022. Los estudios elegibles incluyeron estudios primarios que evaluaron la relación entre la inseguridad alimentaria y los atracones. La extracción de datos fue realizada de forma independiente por 2 revisores. Los odds ratios agrupados y los intervalos de confianza (IC) del 95% se obtuvieron de modelos de efectos aleatorios con el paquete R meta. Los análisis se estratificaron por comer en atracones versus trastorno por atracón (TpA), tipo de estudio (transversal vs longitudinal) y edad (adultos vs adolescentes).

Resultados: Se incluyeron 24 artículos que informaron sobre 20 estudios y 13 artículos se incluyeron en el metaanálisis. Según el metaanálisis de efectos aleatorios, las probabilidades de que los adultos en el grupo de inseguridad alimentaria comieran en atracones fue de 1,66 (IC del 95% = 1,42, 1,93) veces las probabilidades de que los adultos en el grupo de seguridad alimentaria comieran en atracones. Las probabilidades de que los adultos en el grupo de inseguridad alimentaria tuvieran TpA fue 2.70 (IC del 95% = 1.47, 4.96) veces las probabilidades de que los adultos en el grupo de seguridad alimentaria tuvieran TpA. No hubo datos suficientes disponibles para un metaanálisis sobre adolescentes o relaciones longitudinales.

Conclusiones: Estos hallazgos apoyan que la inseguridad alimentaria está asociada con comer en atracones en adultos. Existe la necesidad de desarrollar investigación para investigar los mecanismos subyacentes a esta relación. Los resultados resaltan la importancia de evaluar a los participantes con inseguridad alimentaria para detectar conductas alimentarias disfuncionales y viceversa. Se necesitan estudios de investigación futuros para examinar si las intervenciones dirigidas a la inseguridad alimentaria pueden ayudar a mitigar los comportamientos alimentarios disfuncionales.

Keywords: binge eating; eating disorder; food insecurity; meta-analysis; systematic review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Ariana M. Chao reports grants from Eli Lilly and Company and WW International, Inc., outside the submitted work.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA 2020 flow diagram for new systematic reviews Reason 1 Does not focus on binge eating or loss of control eating Reason 2 Wrong study design Reason 3 Does not link binge eating with food insecurity
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Meta-analysis of adult, cross-sectional studies investigating the relationship between binge eating and food insecurity. Note. Becker et al., 2017 and Becker et al., 2019 reported results clustering for “food insecurity” based on combining the responses for household/individual/child hunger scores. For Poll et al., 2020 which included a zero cell, a continuity correction of 0.5 was used.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Meta-analysis of adult, cross-sectional studies investigating the relationship between binge eating disorder and food insecurity. Note. Rasmusson et al., 2018 reported results in a combined group of low/very low food security. For Zickgraf et al., 2019, we did not include results on marginal food insecurity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Allison S, & Timmerman GM (2007). Anatomy of a binge: food environment and characteristics of nonpurge binge episodes. Eating Behaviors, 8(1), 31–38. - PubMed
    1. Ash T (2014). Investigating the link between food insecurity and disturbances in eating and mood. [Unpublished Public Health thesis]. Yale University.
    1. Becker CB, Middlemass K, Taylor B, Johnson C, & Gomez F (2017). Food insecurity and eating disorder pathology. International Journal of Eating Sisorders, 50(9), 1031–1040. - PubMed
    1. Becker CB, Middlemass KM, Gomez F, & Martinez-Abrego A (2019). Eating disorder pathology among individuals living with food insecurity: a replication study. Clinical Psychological Science, 7(5), 1144–1158.
    1. Brockmeyer T, Skunde M, Wu M, Bresslein E, Rudofsky G, Herzog W, & Friederich H-C (2014). Difficulties in emotion regulation across the spectrum of eating disorders. Comprehensive Psychiatry, 55(3), 565–571. - PubMed

Publication types