Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Paper
  • Published:

The Eating Inventory in obese women: Clinical correlates and relationship to weight loss

International Journal of Obesity volume 22, pages 778–785 (1998)Cite this article

An Erratum to this article was published on 15 January 1999

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Describe the physical and psychological correlates of the Eating Inventory (EI) (also known as the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire) factors in an obese sample, and determine the relationship between the three EI factors and weight loss.

DESIGN: Consecutive series of obese women enrolled between 1987 and 1996 in clinical trials of weight loss treatments.

PARTICIPANTS: 223 obese women with a weight of 100.7±15.5 kg, an age of 41.4±8.8 y and a body mass index (BMI) of 37.2±5.6 kg/m2.

MEASURES: The EI and a variety of physical (weight, body composition and resting energy expenditure) and psychological (mood and binge eating) measures were assessed before and after 5–6 months of treatment.

RESULTS: Before treatment, higher restraint scores were associated with lower body weights (P=0.02), while higher disinhibition scores were associated with greater binge eating severity (P<0.0001). Weight loss treatment was associated with significant increases in restraint and decreases in disinhibition and hunger (all Ps<0.0001). Greater increases in restraint during treatment were associated with larger weight losses (P<0.0001).

CONCLUSIONS: The three factors of the EI showed clinical utility in a sample of women receiving treatment for obesity.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    GD Foster, TA Wadden, RM Swain, AJ Stunkard, P Platte & RA Vogt

Authors
  1. GD Foster
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. TA Wadden
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. RM Swain
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. AJ Stunkard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. P Platte
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. RA Vogt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Foster, G., Wadden, T., Swain, R. et al. The Eating Inventory in obese women: Clinical correlates and relationship to weight loss. Int J Obes 22, 778–785 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0800659

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0800659

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links