Associations between latent trait negative affect and patterns of food-intake among girls with loss-of-control eating

Objective: Momentary negative affect (NA) has been shown to predict eating patterns in the laboratory, yet, more stable mood states have not been studied in relation to eating patterns in the laboratory among youth at high risk for binge-eating disorder and obesity. Method: One-hundred-eight adolescent girls (14.5 ± 1.7 years) with BMI between the 75th–97th percentile who reported loss-of-control (LOC)-eating completed measures of trait anxiety and depressive symptoms. Food-intake patterns were measured from a laboratory test meal (9,385 kcal). Latent factor analysis of depressive symptoms and trait anxiety was used to compute latent trait NA. Multivariate general linear models predicted total energy, snacks, and macronutrient intake from trait NA, adjusting for age, race, height, lean-mass, and percentage fat-mass. Results: Trait NA was significantly positively related to total energy-intake, and, specifically, snacks, sweet snacks, and percentage sweet fats (ps ≤.03), and negatively related to percentage protein consumed (p =.04). Discussion: Expanding on affect theory, trait NA may relate to palatable food-intake among girls with LOC-eating. Further data are needed to determine whether those with LOC-eating and trait NA are at heightened risk for the development of binge-eating disorder and obesity.