HHS HealthBeat (February 28, 2012)

Down and eating

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I’m Nicholas Garlow with HHS HealthBeat.

Teenage girls may think that eating can help their problems go away. A new study shows girls who feel depressed are twice as likely to start binge eating. But do a 180, and the same is true.

Alison Field is at the Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health. 

“Girls who started off binge eating were about two times as likely as their peers to start feeling depressed. So really, the association went both ways.” (8 seconds)

Seeing the signs can help.

“Well, I think it’s really important for pediatricians or family practitioners to ask very simple questions to screen for both binge eating and depressive symptoms in their patients.” (10 seconds) 

The findings were from the nationwide Growing Up Today Study. The study in the Journal of Adolescent Health was supported by the National Institutes of Health.

Learn more at hhs.gov.

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I’m Nicholas Garlow.

Last revised: February 28, 2012