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. 2025 Aug 15;17(16):2654.
doi: 10.3390/nu17162654.

Association Between Childhood Obesity and the Risk of Food Addiction: A Matched Case-Control Study

Néstor Benítez Brito  1   2 , Berta Pinto Robayna  1 , Juan Ignacio Capafons Sosa  3 , Miguel Angel García Bello  3 , Eva María Herrera Rodríguez  4 , Jesús Enrique de Las Heras Roger  1 , Mónica Ruiz Pons  4 , Irina María Delgado Brito  1 , Carlos Díaz Romero  1   2 , Yolanda Ramallo Fariña  3   5
Affiliations

Association Between Childhood Obesity and the Risk of Food Addiction: A Matched Case-Control Study

Néstor Benítez Brito et al. Nutrients. .

Abstract

Background: Food addiction is a new clinical entity that is beginning to be linked to obesity and eating disorders. The present study aims to investigate the association between the risk of food addiction in children and the presence of obesity. It also explores the relationship between food addiction, the development of eating disorders, and body image dissatisfaction. Material and methods: A matched case-control study was conducted in a Spanish pediatric population (cases have obesity, and controls have normal weight). The main outcome measures were evaluation of food addiction (S-YFAS-C), child feeding attitudes (ChEAT), and evaluation of body image (CDRS). Additionally, sociodemographic and anthropometric data were gathered. Results: A total of 62 children were evaluated (31 cases with age 11 ± 0.7 years and BMI Z-score 2.89 ± 1.33; 31 controls with age 10.7 ± 0.8 years and BMI Z-score -0.05 ± 0.52). For all items on the S-YFAS-C scale, significant differences were observed between the two groups (∧ = 0.252, p = 0.002). Food addiction was diagnosed in 32.3% of cases (2.06 ± 1.7 symptoms) and 22.6% of controls (1.61 ± 1.6 symptoms), although no statistically significant differences were observed between groups. A statistically significant correlation exists between all the scores of the scales studied in the children. Conclusions: Children with obesity have a higher number of food addiction symptoms compared to those with normal weight. In general, as food addiction scores increase, higher scores are observed for the risk of developing eating disorders and body image dissatisfaction.

Keywords: feeding and eating disorders; food addiction; mental disorders; obesity; pediatric obesity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. The funders have not participated in the design, analysis, interpretation of the results, or publication of the same.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Boxplot of Canonical Scores for FA items and structure for canonical scores. * There are significant differences between the two groups.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Boxplot of ChEAT-26 scores based on diagnosis, S-YFAS-C diagnosis outcome, and group.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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