New research being presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Dublin, Ireland, revealed that obese teenagers who claim their hunger is preventing them from losing weight have a more negative perception of their weight and worry about it more than kids who do not see hunger as a barrier.
The international study also discovered that hunger-barrier ALwO is more likely to be female and more inclined to claim that being bullied because of their weight makes them unhappy. Additionally, they are more inclined to actively try to lose weight.
Dr. Bassam Bin-Abbas, of the Department of Paediatrics, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and colleagues carried out a sub-analysis of data from ACTION Teens, a global study of the experiences, care and treatment of adolescents living with obesity (ALwO), their caregivers and their healthcare providers.
The survey-based study, conducted in ten countries, aims to improve awareness of management, treatment and support for ALwO. It found that hunger-barrier ALwO were more likely to be female (47 per cent vs 42 per cent), to be in the oldest age group (16-17 years), have obesity class II (27 per cent vs 18 per cent) and have a direct relative who’s overweight. However, hunger-barrier ALwO were less likely to have obesity class I (60% vs. 68%) and class III (12% vs. 14%).
The survey responses also revealed that the hunger-barrier ALwO were more likely to actively try to lose weight. A greater proportion of hunger-barrier ALwO had attempted to lose weight in the past year (70 per cent vs. 51 per cent), improved their eating habits (51 per cent vs. 35 per cent), become more physically active (37 per cent vs. 32 per cent), recorded the foods they ate (23 per cent vs. 14 per cent), seen a nutritionist/dietitian (21 per cent vs. 13 per cent) or an obesity/weight management doctor (20 per cent vs. 9 per cent) than non-hunger-barrier ALwO.
“Many people living with obesity have weaker appetite regulation, with food having less impact on the systems that inhibit eating behaviour," says Dr. Bin-Abbas. “Consequently hunger is not dampened. This leads to the feeling food is controlling you and this makes it very difficult to resist cues to eat. This may mean that hunger is associated with more unsuccessful weight loss attempts and weight regains and so greater feelings of failure and lack of self-worth.”