Impulsivity and test meal intake among women with bulimia nervosa

Many patients with bulimia nervosa (BN) also meet criteria for a lifetime alcohol use disorder (AUD). In order to understand possible mechanisms contributing to the co-occurrence and perpetuation of these disorders, this study investigated the importance of impulsivity and test meal intake among patients with BN by comparing women with BN only (n = 18), BN and current/past AUDs (n = 13), and healthy controls (n = 12). All participants completed assessments of eating disorder symptoms, frequency of alcohol use, binge eating, and purging via questionnaires and semi-structured interviews over two sessions. Measures of impulsivity consisted of computerized and self-report measures, and laboratory test meals. Significant differences between individuals with BN with/without comorbid AUDs were not found for test meal intake, impulsivity measures, or self-reported psychological symptoms. As hypothesized, compared to healthy controls, individuals with BN had significantly higher scores on two subscales and the total score of the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, a trait measure of impulsivity, and consumed significantly more calories in the binge instruction meal. Total Barratt Impulsiveness Scale scores were also significantly related to kcal consumed during the laboratory test meal when individuals were instructed to binge eat (BN groups). Data from this study add to the existing literature implicating impulsivity in the psychopathology of disorders of binge eating, including BN, and also support the use of laboratory meals as a symptom-specific measure of this trait in eating disorder populations

Food Folio by the Columbia Center for Eating Disorders

The Food Folio created by the Columbia Center for Eating Disorders is a stimulus set containing 138 high resolution color photographs of food-items. Each item was photographed situated on the center of a white plate, surrounded by a black background. Foods were prepared and photographed in-house by a professional photographer. Items for the set include a mix of: processed (e.g., pizza); unprocessed (e.g., cucumber sticks); sweet (e.g., brownie); savory (e.g., chicken fingers); single item (e.g., boiled eggs); item combinations (e.g., cereal with milk); snack foods (e.g., yoghurt pretzels); and meals (e.g., rigatoni and sauce). This set of food items was generated with the original purpose of research in eating disorders. The stimulus set is also useful for probing eating behavior and cognition in healthy populations. Of the 138 foods, 76 items are considered low-fat (defined as deriving < 30% of total calories from fat), and 62 are high-fat. Nutrient content (calories and macronutrients) and physical image properties are presented alongside the images. Data collected from a large and normative United States population sample (n=1054) accompany the stimulus set: 1) Ratings of 17 different attributes are presented: protein content; fat content; carbohydrate content; vitamin content; sodium content; sugar content; gluten content; caloric content; healthiness; tastiness; how tasty others think the food is; fillingness; savoriness; pleasantness of texture; disgusting; feelings of happiness or sadness evoked from the food; and familiarity. 2) Choice data include the number of times each food-item was selected in a binary choice task, indexing preference or value