Submit to Special Issue Submit Abstract to Special Issue Review for Nutrients Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Impact of Eating Disorders and Obesity on Quality of Life and Mental Health

Print Special Issue Flyer
Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
Published Papers

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Nutrition and Obesity".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 25 December 2025 | Viewed by 7266

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Fernando Fernandez-Aranda

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

1. Clinical Psychology Department, University Hospital of Bellvitge, 08907 Barcelona, Spain
2. Department of Clinical Sciences, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Barcelona, 08007 Barcelona, Spain
Interests: clinical psychology; psychobiology; mental disorders; eating disorders; obesity; neurocognition; behavioral addictions; therapy and new technologies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Eating disorders and obesity are health conditions that affect the general population regardless of social class or educational background. They are mostly prevalent in early adolescence and early adulthood and have serious consequences for individual, relational, and social functioning. Although seemingly independent, the two conditions often interact and affect the individual’s quality of life and their physical and health statuses. The longer the duration of the disorder and/or disease, the greater the severity of the condition and the poorer the mental state of the affected individual. In this Special Issue, we aim to highlight aspects relevant to eating disorders and obesity, such as quality of life, complications of mental and somatic states, sleep disturbance, and the impact of the disorder’s and/or disease’s duration on the clinical presentation and possible approaches to mitigate its effects. We are interested in holistic, multidisciplinary contributions with a transdiagnostic perspective and the interactions between eating disorders and obesity.

Prof. Dr. Fernando Fernandez-Aranda
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Nutrients is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

eating disorder
obesity
mental health
sleeping disturbances
duration of the disorder
transdiagnostic approach
quality of life

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (6 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

12 pages, 301 KB

Open AccessArticle

Patient and Family Perspectives on Integrated Transitional Care for Anorexia Nervosa in Mantova, Italy

by Debora Bussolotti, Giovanni Barillà, Antonia Di Genni, Martina Comini, Alberto Gallo, Mariateresa Torre, Laura Orlando, Beatrice Mastrolorenzo, Eva Corradini, Barbara Bazzoli, Francesco Bonfà, Andrea Mora, Luca Pasqualini, Elisa Mariantoni, Alessandro Cuomo, Despoina Koukouna and Paola Accorsi

Nutrients 2025, 17(17), 2830; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17172830 - 30 Aug 2025

Viewed by 797

Abstract

Background/Objectives: The child and adolescent mental health service (CAMHS) hand-over to adult mental health service (AMHS) remains an ongoing shortfall in eating disorder (ED) treatment, typically in tandem with diagnostic drift, heightened suicide risk, and carer burn-out. We created one 14-to-25 Transition—ED track within our own unit, where a single multidisciplinary team continuously follows each patient and family across the CAMHS–AMHS boundary (via weekly joint paediatric and adult clinician meeting) without changing the individual psychotherapist, family therapist, or dietitian at the age 18 transition. We investigated the manner in which patients and parents perceive this model. Methods: A survey of two naturalistic parent cohorts—CAMHS (n = 16) and Transition—Adult arm (n = 15)—also joined, alongside the original group of young adults who had entered the programme during its set-up phase (n = 9). Here, the 14–25 pathway denotes one unified route of care across adolescence and young adulthood; the Transition—Adult arm is its ≥ 18-years component. All index patients had a primary DSM-5-TR diagnosis of restricting-type anorexia nervosa. Participants completed the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire-8 (CSQ-8; range 8–32) and four bespoke Continuity-of-Care items (1–4 Likert). Results: Overall, the caregivers in both cohorts were pleased (median CSQ-8 = 28.5 [CAMHS] vs. 27.0 [Transition]; p = 0.75). Continuity items were universally well rated across cohorts. Cohort parents reported a median of two unchanged core clinicians (i.e., the individual psychotherapist, the family therapist, or the dietitian), which was nonsignificantly positively correlated with CSQ-8 scores (ρ = 0.22). Early-group patients mirrored caregiver impressions (mean CSQ-8 = 27.0 ± 3.9). Conclusions: It is feasible and highly acceptable to both caregivers and anorexia nervosa young adults to have the same key staff and family-centred sessions over the 14-to-25 age span. Constrained by single-site study and small sample size, these preliminary data provide a rationale for wider implementation and controlled follow-up studies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Eating Disorders and Obesity on Quality of Life and Mental Health)

11 pages, 245 KB

Open AccessArticle

Traumatic Events and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Adolescents with Severe Eating Disorder Admitted to a Day Care Hospital

by Arturo Rodríguez-Rey, Flavia Piazza-Suprani, Elisabet Tasa-Vinyals, Maria Teresa Plana, Itziar Flamarique, Mireia Primé-Tous, Elena Moreno, Ines Hilker, Ester Pujal, Esteban Martínez and Susana Andrés-Perpiñá

Nutrients 2025, 17(13), 2125; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17132125 - 26 Jun 2025

Viewed by 602

Abstract

Background: It is common for patients with eating disorders (ED) to report traumatic experiences early in their lifetime. The objective of this study was to explore the presence and types of traumatic events and the comorbidity with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in a sample of adolescents with severe ED. Method: A total of 118 adolescents treated at our Eating Disorders Day Care Hospital (EDDCH) were systematically evaluated for depressive symptoms, disordered eating, early traumatic experiences, and presence of PTSD. Likewise, various clinical variables were collected including comorbidities, age upon ED diagnosis, number of hospital admissions, presence of non-suicidal self-injury, and suicide attempts. Results: Seventy-seven (65.3%) of adolescents of the total sample reported exposure to four or more traumatic events (bullying, psychological abuse, and sexual abuse being the most common). Fifty-seven of them (48.3% of the total sample) scored significantly high in PTSD assessment. Patients with ED and comorbid PTSD (PTSD+) presented higher disordered eating (p < 0.001) and depressive symptoms (p < 0.001) and also a higher prevalence of both non-suicidal self-injury (p = 0.031) and suicide attempts (p = 0.004). The depressive symptoms, measured with the CDI, emerged as an independent predictor of belonging to the PTSD+ group, explaining 22.9% of the variance. Conclusions: It is imperative to systematically screen adolescents with severe ED for traumatic events and PTSD, especially in patients presenting with more depressive symptoms and suicidal or non-suicidal self-injury behaviours, since this subset of patients could be at a higher risk of PTSD. Offering specific psychotherapeutic care targeting PTSD and/or posttraumatic symptoms in addition to the ED standard of care could arguably improve the prognosis of the ED in comorbid patients. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Eating Disorders and Obesity on Quality of Life and Mental Health)

14 pages, 379 KB

Open AccessArticle

“Inside the Gut–Brain Axis”: Psychological Profiles of Adolescents with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and with Restrictive Eating Disorders

by Anna Riva, Gabriele Arienti, Giovanna Zuin, Laura Spini, Naire Sansotta, Andrea Eugenio Cavanna and Renata Nacinovich

Nutrients 2025, 17(10), 1706; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17101706 - 17 May 2025

Viewed by 836

Abstract

Background: Individuals with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) have an increased risk of developing psychiatric co-morbidities, including restrictive eating disorders (REDs), with which they share common pathogenic mechanisms, including gut–brain axis dysregulation. We conducted a case–control study systematically exploring the psychopathological profiles and alexithymia in adolescents with IBDs compared with a clinical group of adolescents diagnosed with REDs in order to test the hypothesis of common psychological characteristics between the two patient populations. Methods: We recruited 76 patients with IBDs and 76 age-matched controls with REDs (64 adolescents with anorexia nervosa and 12 adolescents with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder). All participants completed a validated psychometric battery assessing psychological symptoms (SCL-90-R), ED features (EDI-3), and alexithymia (TAS-20). Comprehensive socio-demographic and clinical data were extracted from the medical records. Results: A total of 12 patients with IBDs (15.8%) scored higher than the cut-off (>70th percentile) on the EDI-3 scale for Eating Disorder Risk (EDI-EDRC), with a psychological profile comparable to RED patients. Female gender (OR = 0.133, p = 0.020) and longer disease duration (OR = 1.055, p = 0.036) were identified as significant risk factors for the development of EDs. Conclusions: Our findings suggest common psychological traits between patients with REDs and patients with IBDs at risk of developing EDs during adolescence, highlighting the need for early screening for EDs in patients with IBDs who present with specific socio-demographic and disease characteristics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Eating Disorders and Obesity on Quality of Life and Mental Health)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 406 KB

Open AccessArticle

Implementation Insights from the PEACE Pathway Across UK Eating Disorder Services

by Kate Tchanturia, Dimitri Chubinidze, Fiona Duffy, Emy Nimbley, Zhuo Li and Joanna Holliday

Nutrients 2025, 17(9), 1532; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17091532 - 30 Apr 2025

Viewed by 1779

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Autistic individuals with eating disorders (ED) face socio-emotional, sensory, and communication difficulties that influence engagement and treatment outcomes. We examined how the PEACE Pathway—an autism-informed approach to ED treatment—addresses these challenges through tailored adaptations in clinical care. Methods: A qualitative multiple case studies design was employed, drawing data from clinical documentation, stakeholder feedback, and service evaluations. Results: We identified eight core domains essential for implementation: pathway knowledge, assessment and planning, psychological interventions, sensory management, nutritional care, lived-experience feedback, family/community engagement, and staff training. These domains informed the development of the PEACE Self-Assessment Checklist to support the wider adoption of the pathway. Conclusions: The PEACE Pathway offers a structured approach to adapting ED treatment for autistic individuals. The checklist provides practical guidance for implementing autism-friendly adaptions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Eating Disorders and Obesity on Quality of Life and Mental Health)

20 pages, 763 KB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring Food Addiction Across Several Behavioral Addictions: Analysis of Clinical Relevance

by Anahí Gaspar-Pérez, Roser Granero, Fernando Fernández-Aranda, Magda Rosinska, Cristina Artero, Silvia Ruiz-Torras, Ashley N Gearhardt, Zsolt Demetrovics, Joan Guàrdia-Olmos and Susana Jiménez-Murcia

Nutrients 2025, 17(7), 1279; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17071279 - 6 Apr 2025

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1428

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Recently, interest in studying food addiction (FA) in the context of behavioral addictions (BAs) has increased. However, research remains limited to determine the FA prevalence among various BAs. The current study aimed to investigate FA in a clinical sample of patients seeking treatment for gaming disorder, compulsive buying-shopping disorder (CBSD), compulsive sexual behavior disorder, and the comorbid presence of multiple BAs, as well as to determine the sociodemographic characteristics, personality traits, and general psychopathology of this clinical population. In addition, we analyzed whether FA is linked to a higher mean body mass index (BMI). Methods: The sample included 209 patients (135 men and 74 women) attending a specialized behavioral addiction unit. The assessment included a semi-structured clinical interview for the diagnosis of the abovementioned BAs, in addition to self-reported psychometric assessments for FA (using the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2. 0, YFAS-2), CBSD (using the Pathological Buying Screener, PBS), general psychopathology (using the Symptom Checklist-Revised, SCL-90-R), personality traits (using the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised, TCI-R), emotional regulation (using Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Strategies, DERS), and impulsivity (using Impulsive Behavior Scale, UPPS-P). The comparison between the groups for the clinical profile was performed using logistic regression (categorical variables) and analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), adjusted based on the patients’ gender. The sociodemographic profile was based on chi-square tests for categorical variables and analysis of variance (ANOVA) for quantitative measures. Results: The prevalence of FA in the total sample was 22.49%. The highest prevalence of FA was observed in CBSD (31.3%), followed by gaming disorder (24.7%), and the comorbid presence of multiple BAs (14.3%). No group differences (FA+/−) were found in relation to sociodemographic variables, but the comorbidity between FA and any BA was associated more with females as well as having greater general psychopathology, greater emotional dysregulation, higher levels of impulsivity, and a higher mean BMI. Conclusions: The comorbidity between FA and BA is high compared to previous studies (22.49%), and it is also associated with greater severity and dysfunctionality. Emotional distress levels were high, which suggests that the group with this comorbidity may be employing FA behaviors to cope with psychological distress. However, a better understanding of the latent mechanisms that contribute to the progression of this multifaceted comorbid clinical disorder is needed. One aspect that future studies could consider is to explore the existence of FA symptoms early and routinely in patients with BAs. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Eating Disorders and Obesity on Quality of Life and Mental Health)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

26 pages, 1536 KB

Open AccessReview

Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Obesity: Overlapping Neuroendocrine, Metabolic, and Behavioral Pathways

by Agnieszka Dymek, Magdalena Zielińska, Anna Englert-Bator, Katarzyna Dereń and Edyta Łuszczki

Nutrients 2025, 17(17), 2835; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17172835 - 31 Aug 2025

Viewed by 1142

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most commonly diagnosed anxiety disorders in primary care. The global lifetime prevalence of GAD is estimated at 3.7%, ranging from 1.6% in low-income countries to 5.0% in high-income countries, underscoring its widespread impact. Given the frequent co-occurrence of GAD with obesity, this association has important clinical implications, particularly for screening, prevention, and treatment strategies. The aim of this review is to identify potential biological mechanisms linking obesity and GAD, summarize the current state of knowledge in this area, and highlight existing research gaps, as well as directions for future research. Methods: This narrative review is based on the literature published between 2015 and 2025 concerning the co-occurrence of GAD and obesity, with a focus on potential shared mechanisms including HPA axis dysregulation, chronic inflammation, oxidative stress, insulin resistance, gut–brain axis and microbiota dysbiosis, sleep disturbance, and maladaptive eating behaviors. Results/Conclusions: A growing body of evidence suggests an important, albeit still ambiguously defined, relationship between obesity and GAD. GAD and obesity may reinforce each other, leading to a mutually reinforcing relationship. Despite growing interest, high-quality prospective and interventional studies focusing specifically on GAD are lacking. A potentially effective therapeutic approach should be integrated and multidisciplinary, combining psychological, pharmacological, and lifestyle interventions. It may also be beneficial for clinicians to consider routine assessment of anxiety in patients with obesity and, conversely, to monitor metabolic risk in individuals with GAD. Such an approach, targeting both mental and metabolic domains, holds promise for improving outcomes. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Impact of Eating Disorders and Obesity on Quality of Life and Mental Health)

► Show Figures

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Impact of Eating Disorders and Obesity on Quality of Life and Mental Health

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Special Issue Information

Keywords

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Published Papers (6 papers)

Research

Review

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI