Children that were abuse are more likely to overeat when they grow older

Researchers say that women who suffered from physical or sexual abuse while they were still young are probably going to be addicted to food when they grow up compared to women that were not abuse early on their lives. The new finding shares new information about factors that contribute to food craving, which leads to obesity.

Based on national surveys, more than one third of American women had suffered from physical or sexual abuse prior to reaching the age of 18. The research also tackles those possible effects of childhood abuse not only for women’s mental health, but also for their physical health. Earlier studies have proven that there is a connection between childhood abuse and obesity later in their adult life; scientist believes that stress indulges a person to overeat in order to comfort themselves.

Susan Mason, PhD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, and her associated want to know the relationship of childhood abuse and eating disorders. For the study, researchers asked 57,321 adult participants in the Nurses’ Health Study II, all of which had a history of sexual child abuse histories in 2001 and current food addiction in 2009.

The investigators found out that most of the women that have eating disorder have a history of physical or sexual abuse. Those women that suffered from physical or sexual abuse before they were 18 are more likely to become obese in their 20’s compared to those that never experience it. And the possibility of food addiction for those who had experienced both physical and sexual abuse are even greater than those who only experienced one form of abuse while they were young.

Dr. Mason and her co-authors noted that the study still need further study before they can make any conclusion about overeating and abuse. Once that further study is conducted and researchers made a conclusion then the next step is to trim down the risk of overeating among women who were abuse when they were still young.