A revolutionary new study suggests people with an apple-shaped body have an increased risk for developing eating disturbances, disordered eating, and loss-of-control eating behaviors.
Lead study author, Dr. Laura Berner, and a research team analyzed data from a previous 2-year study that was coordinated at Drexel University and the University of Pennsylvania. They concluded that people who have a body shape that resembles an apple may have a higher risk for developing certain eating disturbances.
The surprising results, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, showed that women who had greater fat stores in the central part of the body, were unsatisfied with their bodies, and had excess fat stores in their abdominal area, hips and back, may be at an increased risk for loss of control ( LOC) eating.
The results showed women with larger percentages of fat stores in these central regions and body dissatisfaction may serve as maintenance of exacerbation factors for LOC eating. This suggests that the specificity of where fat is stored on the body is associated with a higher disordered eating risk regardless of other biological factors that were also considered, explained Dr. Berner. She also gave helpful examples.
According to Dr. Berner, a person who has a one-unit increase in the percentage of abdominal body fat was likely to have a 53% increased risk for development of LOC eating, yet, ironically, total percentage body fat wasn't found to be a factor in the prediction of LOC eating.
Fat cells release signals to the brain that influence how hungry or satiated we feel. It's possible that this kind of fat distribution is not only psychologically distressing, but biologically influential through, for example, alterations in hunger and satiety signaling. Our study didn't include hormone assays, so we can't know for sure, but in theory it's possible that if a centralized distribution of fat alters the hunger and satiety messages it sends, it could make a person feel out of control while eating, explained Dr. Berner.
Learn more about hunger and satiety at the [website](http://www.biomazingremedies.com/).
