Many adults with eating disorders are overweight. A looming question for the field has been whether encouraging intentional weight loss could exacerbate symptoms for these individuals.
Robin Masheb, PhD, professor of psychiatry, is senior author of a review in Obesity Reviews that looks at how behavioral weight management interventions affect eating disorder symptoms.
While previous systematic reviews have covered this topic, this is the first to focus exclusively on individuals diagnosed with DSM-5 binge-eating disorder or bulimia nervosa.
The researchers examined data from 11 clinical trials involving 890 participants. The trials found that eating disorder symptoms decreased after participants used weight management interventions.
The findings suggest behavioral weight management interventions may help treat adults with binge-eating disorder or bulimia nervosa. However, it is not known if these results apply to adolescents or last over time.
The research group also recently published a clinical trial showing improvements in eating disorder symptoms among veterans with binge-eating disorder who attended the VA’s evidence-based weight management program.
This International Journal of Eating Disorders publication can be viewed here.