Food Addiction in Overweight and Obese Adolescents Seeking Weight‐loss Treatment

Abstract

Some forms of overeating closely resemble addictive behaviour. The Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) was developed to measure such addiction-like eating in humans and has been employed in numerous studies for examining food addiction in adults. Yet, little is known about food addiction in children and adolescents. Fifty adolescents were recruited at the beginning of treatment in a weight-loss hospital and completed the YFAS among other questionnaires. Nineteen participants (38%) received a YFAS diagnosis, who did not differ in age, body mass and gender distribution from those not receiving a diagnosis. However, those with food addiction reported more binge days, more frequent food cravings, higher eating, weight and shape concerns, more symptoms of depression and higher attentional and motor impulsivity. Eating restraint and nonplanning impulsivity did not differ between groups. Results replicate findings from studies in obese adults such that food addiction is not related to age, gender, body mass or eating restraint, but to higher eating pathology, more symptoms of depression and higher impulsivity. Furthermore, results highlight that particularly attentional impulsivity is related to 'food addiction'. Addiction-like eating appears to be a valid phenotype in a substantial subset of treatment-seeking, obese adolescents.

Five years of the Yale Food Addiction Scale: Taking stock and moving forward

“…food or eating or recover from its effects', 'giving up important activities', and 'withdrawal symptoms') are less common, particularly in nonclinical samples [35•, 37], but are nonetheless endorsed by a substantial proportion of obese individuals [38,25,33,39]. In a recent study with individuals with BN, the most often endorsed symptom also was 'a persistent desire or unsuccessful efforts to cut down or control eating', corresponding to previous studies.…”

“…Notably, almost 100 % of obese individuals fulfill this criterion [28,33,38,25,39]. Other commonly endorsed symptoms are 'continued eating despite physical or psychological problems' and 'tolerance', particularly in obese samples [28,33,38,25,39]. The remaining symptoms ('consumption of large amounts or over a longer period than intended', 'spending much time obtaining Criteria printed in boldface are new in DSM-5.…”

“…Positive but weaker associations were observed with external eating behavior [31, 47••, 26•, 40], and weak or no relationships have been found with restrained eating [25,49,39,31,38]. Nevertheless, the number of food addiction symptoms is negatively correlated with perceived self-regulatory success in dieting [51].…”

Verlangen nach Süßem: Eine Evaluation der Suchtperspektive auf Zucker- und Süßstoffkonsum

“…Jahrhunderts handelt. Tatsächlich lassen sich aber die ersten wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten zum Thema Essen unter dem Suchtaspekt sogar bis auf das Ende des 19. und den Anfang des 20.…”

“…Beispielsweise geht Substanzgebrauch häufig ein starkes Verlangen voraus, die Substanz zu konsumieren ("craving" [18][19][20]. Entsprechend erhalten auch fast alle Menschen mit Bulimie eine YFAS-Diagnose, obwohl diese meist normalgewichtig sind [21,22].…”