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The Association of Eating Behavior With Risk for Morbidity in Older Women

^a Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts
^b U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, Natick, Massachusetts

Susan B. Roberts, Energy Metabolism Laboratory, Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, 711 Washington St., Boston, MA 02111 E-mail: sroberts{at}hnrc.tufts.edu.

Background. Although an influence of eating behavior on dietary intake and physiology has been documented in several studies, the extent to which eating behavior influences long-term health is uncertain.

Methods. Current dietary restraint, disinhibition, and hunger were assessed using the Eating Inventory in 1252 nonsmoking women aged 55 to 65 years. In addition, subjects reported the presence or absence of 22 specific morbidities, along with general demographic information. Logistic regression was used to examine associations between eating behavior scores and morbidity, adjusting for age, prior smoking status, hormone replacement therapy, education level, and body mass index (BMI).

Results. In adjusted models excluding BMI, higher disinhibition scores were associated with small increased risks for hypercholesterolemia (odds ratio [OR] 1.04, p = .045), leg cramps (OR 1.05, p = .044), indigestion (OR 1.06, p = .020), and cataract (OR 1.09, p = .036), and a decreased risk of eczema (OR 0.91, p = .008). In addition, higher hunger scores were associated with increased risk of eczema (OR 1.09, p = .026). However, after adjusting for confounding variables plus BMI, higher disinhibition scores were associated with increased risks for low back pain (OR 1.06, p = .031) and constipation (OR 1.10, p = .004), and associations of disinhibition and hunger with eczema were unchanged (OR 0.90, p = .008 and OR 1.09, p = .024, respectively). Dietary restraint was not associated with morbidity in any model.

Conclusions. Higher disinhibition and hunger scores were associated with small alterations in reported morbidity risk in a large population of nonsmoking older women. Although our cross-sectional study design makes the directionality of these relationships unclear, our results suggest at most a relatively minor independent influence of eating behavior constructs on long-term health.

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