Light may be a deterrent to binge eating, so long as it's not the
fluorescent glow of the fridge. People are more apt to give in to food
cravings in dimly lit surroundings because they feel uninhibited,
according to Joseph Kasof, Ph.D., research associate at the University of
California at Irvine. Kasof's survey of 401 undergraduates built upon
earlier studies associating binge eating with dimmer light, nighttime and
winter.
Kasof hopes his findings, published in
Personality and Individual Differences, will help
treat those with bulimia and other eating disorders. "An intervention
that has never been attempted is simply to use brighter lights when
eating," he says.
But snacking throughout the night can be more than a lack of
willpower—or illumination. Night Eating Syndrome is a disorder in which
individuals regularly wake one to three times a night to eat, consuming
more than half their daily calories during these episodes.
Norwegian researchers now attribute this behavior to hormonal
disturbances. Grethe Birketvedt, Ph.D., an obesity specialist at the
University of Tromo in Norway, found irregularities among night eaters in
the way the hypothalamus controls activity in the pituitary and adrenal
glands.
Night eaters had a lowered response to a stress-inducing
intravenous hormone, meaning their hormones were already overtaxed. When
hormonal flow is stressed during the day, hormones cannot function
correctly at night. Subjects with the disorder do not secrete adequate
levels of the satiating hormone leptin or the sleep-inducing melatonin.
The results were published in
The American Journal of Physiology—Endocrinology and
Metabolism.
Tags:
adequate levels,
adrenal glands,
behavior,
diet,
endocrinology and metabolism,
food cravings,
hormone,
irregularities,
night,
nighttime,
nutrition,
personality and individual differences,
research associate,
university of california at irvine
