Food Response Training for Binge Eating

Binge eating disorder is the most prevalent eating disorder and affects both men and women at comparable rates unlike anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Given that binge eating and obesity are strongly associated, binge eating treatments should aim to reduce binge eating as well as weight. However, most binge eating interventions do not produce lasting weight loss. Recent research has shown computer-based response inhibition training with high-calorie foods reduces reward region response to and attentional bias for the training foods, decreases training food intake, increases inhibitory control, and produces weight loss in overweight adults. There is evidence that the weight loss effects from such response training persist through 6-month follow-up. Further, binge eating has been associated with increased food-related impulsivity and increased activation in a reward-processing brain region to high-calorie foods. Prior research suggests that food response training may be an effective intervention for binge eating that teaches automatic self-control in response to high-calorie foods which in turn, reduces binge eating and produces weight loss. This study will examine the effectiveness of food response training interventions in reducing binge eating and weight among adults engaged in binge eating.

The goals of this study are to: (1) test the hypothesis that adults who complete the food response trainings will show significantly greater reductions in binge eating frequency and in body mass index (BMI) compared to generic response training from pretest to posttest and at 3-month follow up, (2) to determine whether one of the food response trainings is more effective in binge eating frequency and reducing BMI from pretest to posttest and at 3-month follow up, and (3) test whether a reduction in valuation of the high-calorie versus low-calorie foods (willingness to pay for the pictured foods) and/or behavioral improvement of inhibitory control during the training tasks mediate the effects of the various trainings on reductions in binge frequency and body mass index.