Night eating syndrome: How to treat it?

Night eating syndrome (NES) is characterized by caloric intake >= 25% of total daily after dinner and/or by two or more weekly nocturnal awakenings accompanied 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 frequencies have been described in obese individuals, a causal relationship between NES and obesity is not clearly established. Since the first NES reports, several treatment 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 description, 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 selection 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.