We all know abnormal eating habits aren’t healthy — but a new study reveals that it can affect our emotional IQ.
The study, which was reported in the journal Appetite, reveals that 80 women shown images of faces with different expressions had difficulty recognizing the right expressions correctly. Many women were unable to tell which faces were angry, sad or scared correctly, with recognition errors highest in those with the most severe eating problems.
Participants were selected through an eating disorder inventory and a self-help group.
While some publications, such as The Daily Meal, go as far to say abnormal eating is associated with poor social skills, researchers see this as evidence abnormal eating habits may affect the brain.
This has not been the first time researchers have found a link between emotional irregularities and abnormal eating habits. In 2002, the same journal reported a study that investigated women who displayed rigid eating habits, which also fits into the spectrum of abnormal eating. In the study, researchers discovered rigid dieters had more mood disturbances and were preoccupied with their body shape — two signs often associated with disordered eating or an eating disorder.
In contrast, researchers who studied those with flexible eating patterns noted they did not significantly suffer from these issues.
This begs the question: Is abnormal eating the cause of irregularities in the brain, or is the abnormal eating causing these irregularities? While it is clear abnormal eating can have negative effects on mood, the certainty of its impact on the brain is still confusing territory. Its effects on the brain are better noted in those with full-blown eating disorders, who clearly display the emotional effects of severe, abnormal eating, such as severe mood swings and thoughts of suicide. People with eating disorders often have a mental or mood disorder as well, such as depression or obsessive compulsive disorder.
No matter how you look at it, abnormal eating habits just aren’t a good thing — even if it makes you thin.
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