Body composition in bulimia nervosa patients compared to healthy females.
OBJECTIVE
In contrast to anorexia nervosa there is a lack of research on body composition in bulimia nervosa patients. The aim of the study was to examine the body composition in underweight, normal-weight and overweight bulimia nervosa patients in comparison with healthy sedentary females, to assess the changes in body composition and subcutaneous fat after five months treatment, and to analyze the relation between body composition variables.


METHODS
The body composition of 138 female bulimia nervosa patients and 188 healthy sedentary females was studied using underwater weighing and skinfold measurements.


RESULTS
A good agreement was found between the results obtained by underwater weighing and skinfold measurements. Normal-weight bulimics and control subjects did not differ significantly in body composition. In comparison with healthy controls, underweight and overweight bulimics showed a lower or higher percentage body fat, respectively. In underweight bulimics the fat mass increased after five months of treatment, whereas it decreased in normal-weight and overweight patients in comparison with control subjects. In bulimics more significant relations between body composition variables were found than in the controls.


CONCLUSIONS
Body composition of bulimia nervosa patients may show great differences related to their (varying) body weight. Future research should take the patients' body weight into account.
University Center St-Jozef, 3070 Kortenberg, Belgium. michel.probst@flok.kuleuven.ac.be.
Michel
M
Probst
Marina
M
Goris
Walter
W
Vandereycken
Guido
G
Pieters
Johan
J
Vanderlinden
Herman
H
Van Coppenolle
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000378:metabolism; D000328:Adult; D001823:Body Composition / Q000502:physiology*; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D002032:Bulimia / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003720:Densitometry; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D012885:Skinfold Thickness; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000502:physiology; D015431:Weight Loss / Q000502:physiology