A program for compulsive binge eating disorders was created in Campania with the “Rinascere” project.
To illustrate the problem is Ermenegilda Pagano, director of the Rinascere project of the Metabolic and Nutritional rehabilitation department of the Santa Maria del Pozzo Hospital.
“We never talk about the Binge eating disorder which stands for Binge Eating Disorder and yet it exists. It is an eating disorder characterized by recurrent and uncontrolled episodes of excessive food consumption, which represents an important risk factor in the development and maintenance of obesity. In Campania, at the Santa Maria del Pozzo Hospital we have implemented the Rinascere rehabilitation program”.
Counteracting obesity is one of the most important challenges to be faced at a national level
“There is a real obesity epidemic which currently represents one of the most pressing challenges for the national healthcare system. Every year at the Metabolic and Nutritional Rehabilitation department of the Santa Maria del Pozzo Hospital, in Campania, I have the opportunity to visit and hospitalize approximately 700 patients with obesity. From 2020 to today, the total number of patients who have referred to the metabolic department has been 2774, of which 1285 patients in ordinary hospitalization and 1489 patients in Day Hospital. And the number of patients who come from other regions of Italy from the north, center and south is high, for example many from Lazio, Molise, Lucania, Emilia-Romagna, Tuscany, Abruzzo, Calabria, Lombardy, Puglia, Sicily, Piedmont, Marche, Veneto and in particular, we have hospitalized more than 150 patients from outside the region since the start of the Obesity project”.
The alarm raised is very timely. The program for the identification of Binge eating disorder begins
“Among the different forms of obesity, Compulsive Eating Disorder which stands for Binge eating disorder with the acronym BED, represents a reality that is often underestimated and little known, but with a significant impact on the psychological and physical health of patients. BED, characterized by recurrent and uncontrolled episodes of excessive food consumption, represents an important risk factor in the development and maintenance of obesity. Frequent and abundant binges significantly unbalance calorie intake, favoring the accumulation of fat mass and, consequently, an increase in body weight. During my experience I realized that some patients with obesity had different characteristics from others, starting to identify the first patients with binge eating disorder two years ago. Since February 2024, as part of the Rinascere project that we created, among the first in Italy, at the Santa Maria Maria del Pozzo Hospital, we began to systematically recruit patients with binge eating disorder, identifying around 60 to date and outlining they are a specific multidisciplinary intervention that includes internal medicine doctors, physiatrists, neurologists, psychologists, nutritionists and physiotherapists”.
We never talk about Binge eating disorder which stands for Uncontrolled Eating Disorder
“About 88% of patients with binge eating disorder who come to our facility have not received a diagnosis. This happens because the interconnections between obesity and BED are multiple and complex as alterations at a neurobiological level, particularly in the brain circuits involved in the regulation of appetite – continued Pagano – could predispose individuals to both obesity and BED; Negative emotions such as stress, anxiety and depression can act as triggers for binge eating, creating a vicious cycle in which food is used as a tool to cope with emotional distress. Furthermore, low self-esteem and negative perception of one’s body can contribute to a distorted body image and dysfunctional eating behaviors, aggravated by beauty models conveyed by the media, which promote an often unrealistic ideal of thinness, which can generate insecurity and discomfort. BED is often associated with other psychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety, and generalized anxiety disorders, which can further worsen the health of the patient with obesity and compromise the quality of life. Both obesity and BED are associated with a reduced quality of life, characterized by social isolation, difficulties in interpersonal relationships and stigmatization.
In this context, I believe it is essential to intensify efforts to prevent and combat obesity, starting from greater awareness and competence of healthcare professionals, in particular general practitioners, who are the first to come into contact with patients. Early identification, evaluation of cardiovascular risk and the activation of integrated care pathways represent the main levers of intervention”.
Obesity is a real health emergency!
“Obesity is no longer an aesthetic problem, but a real health emergency that causes serious repercussions on individual and collective health. It is a risk factor for numerous pathologies, such as diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, stress urinary incontinence, hepatosteatosis and gallstones, pancreatitis, sleep disorders such as obstructive apnea, motor disabilities – concluded Dr. Ermenegilda Pagano – anxious-depressive syndromes and many types of cancer, with a consequent negative impact on the patient’s quality of life and on the economic sustainability of their inconveniences and concomitant pathologies, not to mention the enormous costs that fall on global health spending for public health”.
