Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Obesity is a chronic disease, significantly influenced by maladaptive eating patterns. Oxytocin (OT), recognized for its central role in regulating energy metabolism and eating behavior, represents a potential link in understanding this intricate relationship.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the potential association between circulating levels of OT and maladaptive eating behaviors, assessed through the Eating Behaviors Assessment for Obesity (EBA-O) questionnaire, in correlation with clinical, anthropometric, metabolic and body composition parameters in a population with obesity.

Materials and Methods: Our prospective, observational study was conducted at the Highly Specialized Center for the Treatment of Obesity at La Sapienza University of Rome. The cohort included adult individuals with obesity. Comprehensive evaluations included anthropometric analysis, body composition analysis by bioimpedance analysis, complete biochemical and hormonal profile, measurement of plasma OT concentration by ELISA, and an in-depth assessment of dysfunctional eating behavior using the EBA-O questionnaire.

Results: 21 participants (16 females, 5 males) with a mean age of 45.67±15.07 years, a mean BMI of 40.89±8.02 kg/m²;, and a mean plasma OT concentration of 1365.61±438.03 pg/ml were enrolled. Interesting associations emerged, demonstrating significant correlations between various dysfunctional eating behaviors. Specifically, individuals exhibiting food addiction tendencies often had concomitant manifestations in multiple EBA-O domains (P<0.05), excluding night eating. Lower waist-to-hip ratios were observed in individuals exhibiting food addiction. In addition, the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis demonstrated that OT levels below 1312.55 pg/ml were predictive of food addiction, displaying a sensitivity of 100% and a specificity of 62.5%. The presence of night eating was correlated with elevated lipid profiles - triglycerides (P<0.001), total cholesterol (P=0.05), and TG/HDL ratio (P=0.02) - while hyperphagic behaviors were correlated with increased hepatic steatosis index (HSI) (P=0.05). Positive correlations were established between circulating OT levels and BMI (r=43; P<0.05), HOMA-IR (r=0.55; P=0.014), HSI (r=0.46; P=0.049), and estradiol in the female population (r=0.72; P=0.002).

Conclusions: This study highlights the complex interaction of maladaptive eating traits assessed through the EBA-O, showing associations and predictive potential, particularly in identifying markers of food addiction. Further in-depth clinical investigations are essential to validate the utility of EBA-O and circulating OT as diagnostic markers of dysfunctional eating behaviors in the context of obesity.