FIGURE 1.

Changes in ovarian hormones and binge eating across the menstrual cycle in women

Hormone levels are depicted as z scores to show changes from baseline (i.e., a level of 0) across the cycle. Rates of binge eating are low during pre-ovulation (i.e., follicular and ovulatory phases) when estradiol levels are increasing and progesterone levels are low. Binge eating significantly increases during post-ovulation, particularly during the mid-luteal phase when estradiol levels are lower and progesterone levels are high.