"The next mouthful will be the best": influence of prevision of the pleasure on the decision of having a second helping of a just eaten food.

Purpose: Firstly, to see if the decision to have a second helping of food is related to the current evaluation of its palatability or to the predicted pleasure of a second helping of the same food. Secondly, to see if there is any relationship between subjects' BMI, their current or predicted evaluation of food palatability and their decision to have a second helping.

Methods: 128 guests attended a village festival with the specific purpose of eating a traditional, local soup made of beans and bacon.

The DSM-5 effect: psychological characteristics of new patients affected by Binge Eating Disorder following the criteria of the DSM-5 in a sample of severe obese patients.

Purpose: The current study evaluated whether or not there were significant differences in psychopathological traits between three groups of individuals. The first was a group of patients seeking bariatric surgery diagnosed as being affected by Binge Eating Disorder (BED), according to the new criteria of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This group (NEW BED group) did not meet BED diagnosis following the previous criteria listed in the DSM-IV-TR.

Alexithymia is not related to severity of night eating behavior: a useful distinction from other eating disorders.

Objective: Patients affected by Night Eating Syndrome (NES) complain of insomnia, mood, anxiety and overeating, which have all been linked to difficulties in dealing with emotions, but no research has examined the levels of alexithymia among NES patients. We compared the levels of alexithymia among samples of: NES patients, insomniac patients who do not eat at night, and a control group.

Method: The study included 153 participants: 34 with NES, 47 with insomnia, and 72 in the control group.

Psychopathological characteristics of patients seeking for bariatric surgery, either affected or not by binge eating disorder following the criteria of the DSM IV TR and of the DSM 5.

Unlabelled: We evaluate whether there are any significant differences in psychopathology between severe obese patients affected by Binge Eating Disorder diagnosed following both the DSM IV TR and the DSM5 criteria, and severe obese patients not having an eating disorder.

Method: 118 severe obese patients seeking treatment at a center for bariatric surgery in northern Italy were asked to take part in the current study for a period of six months. Average participant age was 44.

Clinical validity of the descriptor. "presence of a belief that one must eat in order to get to sleep" in diagnosing the Night Eating Syndrome.

The diagnostic criteria for the Night Eating Syndrome (NES) published in 2010 require the presence of two core criteria: evening hyperphagia and/or nocturnal awakenings for ingestion of food and three of five diagnostic descriptors. One of the descriptors is as follows: "The belief that one must eat in order to fall asleep". In this study we evaluated whether this conviction is significantly more prominent in obese individuals suffering from insomnia and nocturnal eating, than among obese patients with insomnia who do not eat at night.

Defining the borders between Sleep-Related Eating Disorder and Night Eating Syndrome.

Objectives: Nocturnal eating is a common symptom of two clinical conditions with different pathogenesis and needing different therapeutic approaches: Sleep Related Eating Disorder (SRED) and Night Eating Syndrome (NES). The first is considered a parasomnia while the second is an eating disorder; however, the distinction between SRED and NES is still a controversial matter. The aim of this study was to better define psychological, behavioral, and polysomnographic characteristics of the two syndromes.

Daily and nightly anxiety among patients affected by night eating syndrome and binge eating disorder.

We tested if there were any differences about nocturnal and diurnal anxiety between patients either affected by Binge Eating Disorder (BED) or Night eating Syndrome (NES). Fifty four patients affected by BED, 13 by NES and 16 by both BED and NES were tested using the Self Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS) and the Sleep Disturbance Questionnaire (SDQ). Their nocturnal eating behavior was ascertained through the Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ).

Food is never enough: nature and nurture's influence on children's food dose evaluation.

This study investigated whether if socioeconomic factors and\or food palatability influence food amount evaluation among children. Ninety-four children, 10-15 years old, living in Mali in Africa, and 124 living in northern Italy were asked to evaluate an amount of palatable and non palatable candies. The evaluations were compared both to the real number of candies and to that given by the other group.

Visual evaluation of food amount in patients affected by Anorexia Nervosa.

Objective: The study compares visual evaluation of an amount of food and an amount of nonedible objects in patients affected by Anorexia Nervosa and control subjects.

Method: 59 anorexic subjects were asked to evaluate an amount of candies and plastic bricks shown to them. Their answers were compared to both the real number of objects and the parallel evaluations given by 56 control subjects.