Body checking and eating cognitions in Brazilian outpatients with eating disorders and non psychiatric controls

•The paper compares body checking and its relation to eating attitude.•The paper shows the relationship between Body Mass Index (BMI), desired weight and body checking.•The paper discusses if body checking influences the decision of what to eat.•The paper verifies if body checking helps not to lose control of what is eaten.

ObjectiveCompare inadequate eating behaviors and their relationship to body checking in three groups: patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), patients with bulimia nervosa (BN) and a control group (C).MethodsEighty three outpatients with eating disorders (ED) and 40 controls completed eating attitudes and body checking questionnaires.ResultsThe overall relationship between the eating attitude and body checking was statistically significant in all three groups. The worse the eating attitude, the greater the body checking behavior. However, when we look at each group individually, the relationship was only statistically significant in the AN group (r = .354, p = 0.020).DiscussionThe lower the desired weight and the worse the eating attitude, the more people check themselves, although in the presence of an ED the relationship between body checking and food restrictions is greater. In patients displaying the AN subgroup, body checking is also related to continued dietary control.