Emotional Eating and Abdominal Obesity: Narrative Review of Mechanisms and Emerging Interventions
A narrative review maps physiological and behavioral mechanisms linking emotional eating to visceral fat accumulation.
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What the study showed
The abstract reports that emotional eating is associated with HPA axis dysregulation, elevated cortisol, low-grade inflammation, alterations in dopamine, serotonin, and NPY, and gut dysbiosis. These mechanisms are proposed to favor impulsive consumption of palatable foods and visceral fat gain. Mindful eating is mentioned as a potentially beneficial intervention, but no effect size is reported in the available abstract.
How it was done
Narrative review of studies published between 2015 and 2025, searched via PubMed and Google Scholar using terms related to emotional eating, abdominal obesity, gut-brain axis, and gut microbiota.
Risk of bias
Narrative reviews lack systematic selection and synthesis protocols, making them prone to confirmation bias. The abstract does not report the number of included studies, eligibility criteria, or methodological quality assessment of primary studies.
What this study does NOT prove
It cannot be concluded that controlling emotional eating causally and measurably reduces abdominal obesity.
In clinical practice
Clinical interpretation requires caution: the paper synthesizes plausible associations, not established causal relationships. No specific intervention can be recommended based solely on this review.
Limitations
Narrative reviews lack systematic selection and synthesis protocols, making them prone to confirmation bias. The abstract does not report the number of included studies, eligibility criteria, or methodological quality assessment of primary studies.
Technical appendix
Version history
- 1.0 · 2026-08-31 — Auto-generated under Evidence Standard v1.0
Paid access: structured summary from public metadata; consult the original study at the source.