Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Night eating syndrome (NES) is an eating disorder associated with obesity, characterized by a delayed pattern of food intake in which recurrent episodes of nocturnal eating and/or excessive food consump-tion occur after the evening meal. (1) Studies showed significant weight gain among patients with NES.However, the underlying reason is still controversial.The aim of this study is to investigate the body composition and energy metabolism in patients with NES.

Methods: Obese patients were divided into two groups according to the diagnostic criteria. Diagnostic crite-ria for NES include: (1) recurrent episodes of night eating, as manifested by eating after awakening from sleep or by excessive food consumption following the evening meal, (2) awareness of those eating episodes, and (3) significant distress or impairment caused by the disorder. Patients meeting these three criteria were considered NES(+) (2). 281 women and 46 men, (101 NES(+), 226 NES(−)) were included to study. Body mass index (BMI) and waist to hip ratio (WHR) were measured. Biochemical tests were performed. Total fat mass (FM), fat-free mass (FFM), Body Water (BW), basal metabolic rate (BMR)were measured by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA).

Results: BMI and WHR were similar in both groups. There were no significant differences in total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL, HDL, ALT, GGT, fasting glucose, insulin levels, postprandial glucose and insulin levels. There were significant increase in BMR in patients with NES, and not significant differences in FM, FFM, BW.

Conclusion: BMR is the least amount of energy necessary for life. It accounts for 60–70% of the total energy expenditure in sedentary man and hence forms the basis for human energy requirements. In this study, BMR was found high in patients with NES. Fat distrubution was similar in both groups. There is no study that examines the effects of this syndrome on energy metabolism. There was a need for further work in this regard.