How does food addiction influence dietary intake profile?

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate whether there was any difference in eating pattern, abnormal eating behaviour, obesity and the number of food addiction symptoms according to food addiction presence. A total sample of 851 healthy subjects living in Ankara (n = 360 male, n = 491 female) aged 19-65 years were included in this cross-sectional survey. Data on demographic information, 24-hour dietary recalls, Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26), and anthropometric measurements were collected through face-to-face interviews. Overall, 11.4% of participants were identified as "food addicted" (F: 13.0%; M: 9.2%). Subjects meeting criteria for 'food addiction' had higher body mass index (35.1% were obese and 3.1% were underweight), compared to subjects without food addiction (13.1% were obese and 10.2% were underweight) (p<0.05). Abnormal eating attitudes estimated with EAT-26 were determined as 45.5% in males, 37.5% in females and 40.2% in total, among subjects with food addiction. Daily energy, protein and fat intakes were significantly higher in food addicted females, compared to non-addicted females (p<0.05). Participants with food addiction reported significantly more problems with foods, which contain high amounts of fat and sugar, compared to the participants without food addiction. Food addiction behaviour should be considered as a part of efforts towards reducing food related problems involving obesity.

Fig 1. The correlations between YALE food addiction score and body mass index (BMI) or waist circumference (WC) of the participants with food addiction based on the gender.

Scatter plot of food addiction scores and (A) BMI (kg/m²) (r = 0.464, p = 0.007) and (B) WC (cm) (r = 0.280, p = 0.114) among male participants with food addiction (n = 33). Scatter plot of food addiction scores and (C) BMI (kg/m2) (r = 0.259, p = 0.039) and (D) WC (cm) (r = 0.259, p = 0.039) among female participants with food addiction (n = 64).

Fig 2. Percentages of participants who reported having problems with certain types of food items in YFAS according to presence of food addiction.

Chi-square (χ2) test was performed for nominal data analysis by gender presented as (%). FAD = ‘Food addicted’ (≥3 symptoms + satisfying clinical impairment/distress criteria), NFA = non-addicted.* = p < 0.05.