The study, published in JAMA Network Open, followed 422 women who were taking monophasic combined oral contraceptives. The women recorded their eating every day for 49 consecutive days while on the pill.
Researchers used a within-person design. They compared days with active pills, which have synthetic hormones, to days with inactive pills, which have no hormones. In a typical pack, women take three weeks of active pills and then about one week of inactive pills. Participants were ages from late adolescence to young adulthood.
The team measured emotional eating, which is overeating when feeling negative emotions. Emotional eating was higher on active pill days than on inactive days. This pattern appeared across two full pill cycles and in women with binge eating. The difference was not fully explained by negative mood.
Difficult words
- contraceptive — a medicine or device to prevent pregnancycontraceptives
- within-person design — research method comparing results from the same person
- synthetic — made by people, not made naturally by the body
- emotional eating — eating more food when feeling negative emotions
- binge eating — eating large amounts of food quickly and uncontrollably
- consecutive — happening one after the other without break
Tip: hover, focus or tap highlighted words in the article to see quick definitions while you read or listen.
Discussion questions
- Have you ever eaten more when you felt negative emotions? Why or why not?
- Do you think keeping a daily food record for many days is easy or hard? Explain briefly.
- What help might someone need if they have binge eating?
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