Binge eating disorder can be persistent problem

NEW YORK, Jan 5 (Reuters) Binge eating disorder may last much longer than the more well-established eating disorders of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, research shows.

People with binge eating disorder often eat large amounts of food while feeling a loss of control over their eating. The disorder is different from the binge-purge syndrome of bulimia because binge eaters usually do not purge afterward by vomiting or taking laxatives.

''There has been a long-standing question as to whether binge-eating disorder is a genuine disorder, in and of itself, or simply a non-specific pattern of eating,'' Dr Harrison G Pope, Jr, from Harvard Medical School in Boston noted in comments to Reuters Health.

''If it is simply a non-specific pattern of eating, then we would expect that it would occur on and off, from time to time, in people's histories. If it is a genuine disorder, we would expect it to be more stable and chronic -- in other words, people would display the symptoms continuously for a long block of time, rather than intermittently,'' he explained.

''Our study suggests that binge eating disorder is quite chronic and stable, which favors the possibility that binge eating disorder is an actual psychiatric disorder, rather than simply a non-specific pattern of eating,'' Pope said.

In studying 131 adults with binge eating disorder, 18 with anorexia, and 17 with bulimia, Pope's team found that the average length of binge eating disorder was 14.4 years, significantly longer than the average duration of bulimia (5.8 years) or anorexia (5.9 years).

Most binge eaters reported ''a single continuous lifetime episode as opposed to multiple episodes,'' Pope and colleagues report in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Although only fairly recently recognized as a distinct condition, binge eating disorder ''appears more common'' than anorexia and bulimia, according to the researchers. Treatments for binge eating disorder include cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal psychotherapy, self-help groups, and antidepressant medication.

Information on binge eating and other eating disorders can be found at the American Psychiatric Association's website, www.psych.org.

REUTERS MQA RAI0938