Emotional Eating Sustainability in Romania—A Questionnaire-Based Study

Abstract

Background: In Romania, there is little information regarding emotional eating and risk profile for obesity in eating disorders. Therefore, our purpose was to estimate the relationship between demographic, anthropometric, and emotional eating profiles among the Romanian adult population. Methods: The present study is descriptive and cross-sectional, involving 674 Romanian participants who answered the online questionnaire, which was developed and validated in 2019 through a European project. SPSS Statistics v.25 was used for statistical analyses, the Spearman test for linear regression, and Cronbach’s alpha for the evaluation of the internal consistency of the scales. Results: The mean age of the studied population (mostly women, 67.95%) was 38.13 ± 13.41 years old, and the mean BMI (calculated based on self-declared weight and height) was 24.63 ± 4.39 kg/m2; both measures are significantly higher in men than in women. BMI was also significantly higher in participants using food as an escape from situations such as stress, loneliness, feeling depressed, or as an emotional consolation. This behavior was observed especially in the elderly, similar to other European countries. Conclusion: Our data contribute to a better understanding of emotional eating in Romania, and we hope to improve public health policies, with the goal of preventing obesity and chronic related disorders.