Night eating syndrome : how to treat it?

Abstract

Night eating syndrome (NES) is characterized by caloric intake ≥ 25% of total daily after dinner and/or by two or more weekly nocturnal awakenings accom - panied by food ingestion. Causes of NES are not entirely clear and seem to involve a desynchronization between the circadian rhythms of food ingestion and sleep, resulting in a delayed pattern of food intake. Estimates of the prevalence of NES in the general population are around 1.5%, and although much higher frequen - cies have been described in obese individuals, a causal relationship between NES and obesity is not clearly established. Since the first NES reports, several treat - ment modalities have been proposed, although, in many cases, the evidence is still insufficient and there is no consensus on the ideal approach. In order to conduct a critical review of proposed treatments for NES since its original de - scription, a systematic search of articles published in journals indexed in Medline/ Pubmed database in the period 1955–2015 was performed. Seventeen articles addressing non-pharmacological and pharmacological therapies met the selec - tion criteria. Based on the articles analyzed, we conclude that serotonergic agents and psychological interventions, particularly cognitive behavioral therapy, have been shown to be effective for the treatment of NES. A combination of non - -pharmacological and pharmacological therapies must be considered in future studies on the treatment of these patients.