New research suggests that women who store more of their fat in their torso and abdominal regions may be at a particular risk for the development of eating episodes during which they experience a sense of "loss of control" while eating.

Researchers at Drexel University also found that apple-shaped women, or those with greater fat stores in their midsections, reported being less satisfied with their bodies, which may contribute to loss-of-control eating.

"Eating disorders that are detected early are much more likely to be successfully treated. Although existing eating disorder risk models comprehensively address psychological factors, we know of very few biologically-based factors that help us predict who may be more likely to develop eating disorder behaviors," Laura Berner, lead author of the study, said in a statement.

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from nearly 300 young women who were followed for two years. Participants, none of whom met the diagnostic criteria for eating disorders at the start of the study, were assessed for disordered eating behaviors through standardized clinical interviews in which experiences of sense of loss of control were self-reported.

In this sample, the researchers found that women with greater central fat stores, independent of total body mass and depression levels, were more likely to develop loss-of-control eating and demonstrated steadier increases in loss-of-control eating episode frequency over time. Women with a larger percentage of their body fat stored in the trunk region were also less satisfied with their bodies, regardless of their total weight or depression level.

The findings indicate that storage of body fat in trunk and abdominal regions, rather than elsewhere in the body, is more strongly predictive of loss-of-control eating development and worsening over time, and that larger percentages of fat stored in these central regions and body dissatisfaction may serve as maintenance or exacerbation for loss-of-control eating.

"Our results suggest that centralized fat deposition increased disordered eating risk above and beyond other known risk factors," said Berner. "The specificity of our findings to centralized fat deposition was also surprising. For example, a one-unit increase in the percentage of body fat stored in the abdominal region was associated with a 53 percent increase in the risk of developing loss-of-control eating over the next two years, whereas total percentage body fat did not predict loss-of-control eating development."

The findings are detailed in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.