Survey study, 2026
What factors predict emotional eating in women with and without PMS?
Emotional overeating is the strongest predictor of emotional appetite. Body weight, PMS appetite changes, and eating behaviors together explain 51.3% of emotional eating, suggesting it involves biological, psychological, and behavioral factors.
What they did
450 women in Türkiye aged 18-49 completed online surveys in April and May 2025. They answered questions about PMS symptoms, how much they eat when stressed, their eating habits, and quality of life. Researchers used statistics to find which factors best predicted emotional eating.
What they found
Emotional overeating was the strongest predictor of emotional appetite. There was a positive correlation between emotional appetite and body mass index (r = 0.386), PMS appetite changes (r = 0.277), and emotional undereating (r = 0.439). There was a strong negative correlation with emotional overeating (r = -0.641). The final model explained 51.3% of the variance in emotional appetite. Depressive mood and fatigue had the highest mean scores among PMS symptoms.
What it means for you
For women, changes in appetite and mood linked to PMS are connected to emotional eating. This suggests that addressing PMS symptoms and emotional eating together might help. The study cannot prove cause and effect. It only included women in Türkiye.
450
women studied
51.3%
variance explained
0.386
BMI correlation
About the study
- Original title
- A relationship study of factors associated with emotional eating in women in Türkiye: body mass index, premenstrual syndrome, eating behavior, and quality of life
- Authors
- Özcanarslan N, Özpak Akkuş Ö
- Journal
- BMC women's health
- Year
- 2026
- Study design
- Survey study
- Participants
- 450
- What was tested
- None
- Open access
- Yes
- Read the paper
- doi.org/10.1186/s12905-026-04270-z
Topics
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