The association of “food addiction” with disordered eating and body mass index

Abstract

Introduction The contribution of an addictive process to elevated body mass index (BMI) and disordered eating is an area of growing interest. Yet, little is known about how “food addiction” may be related to disordered eating and obesity. The ability of addictive-like eating to account for eating pathology not captured by traditional eating disorders is unknown. No prior research has examined the association of “food addiction” with bulimia nervosa (BN). Finally, little is understood about the association of “food addiction” with patterns of dieting and weight gain. The current study was conducted to address these gaps in the literature. Material and Methods Participants (N = 815) were recruited from online advertisements nationwide and completed measures related to “food addiction”, BMI, weight history, and disordered eating. Results Addictive-like eating was associated with elevated current and lifetime highest BMI, weight cycling, and eating pathology. The prevalence of “food addiction” was higher in participants with BN than in those with binge eating disorder (BED). “Food addiction” continued to be related to clinically relevant variables, especially elevated BMI, even when participants did not meet criteria for BED or BN. The co-occurrence of “food addiction” with eating disorders appears to be associated with a more severe variant of eating pathology. Discussion An addictive-type response to highly palatable food may be contributing to eating-related problems, including obesity and eating disorders. BN relative to BED appears to be more strongly associated with “food addiction.” Additionally, the concept of “food addiction” appears to capture clinically relevant information in participants who do not meet criteria for either BN or BED. Further examination of “food addiction” may be important in understanding the mechanisms underlying certain types of problematic eating behavior.

Prevalence of Food Addiction Among Low-Income Reproductive-Aged Women

“…Our finding that the prevalence of food addiction did not differ by BMI categories is also consistent with a prior study conducted by Gearhardt, et al 11 However, several other studies 7,12,13 observed a substantially higher prevalence of food addiction among obese individuals. This could be due to an addictive-type response to highly palatable foods resulting in obesity.…”

Obesity and the Neurocognitive Basis of Food Reward and the Control of Intake

“…Three studies found high values of comorbidity between BED and FOA as defined by the YFAS as follows: 72% (141), 56.8% (133), and 41.5% (134). The considerable overlap between FOA and BED and also other eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia nervosa (147)(148)(149) raises the following important question: is FOA a unique nosological entity?…”

The prevalence of food addiction as assessed by the Yale Food Addiction Scale: A systematic review

“…Prevalence of FA diagnosis was meta-analyzed by sex with a higher mean prevalence of FA in six samples of females exclusively of 12.2% [35,40,45,47,51,57] compared to 6.4% in four samples of males [45,47,51,57]. When meta-analyzed by BMI category, the mean prevalence of FA was considerably greater at 24.9% in fourteen studies investigating overweight/obese individuals (Figure 2b) [27,[34][35][36][37][38][39][44][45][46][47]49,51,56,57] compared to 11.1% in six studies of healthy weight individuals (Figure 2c) [26,28,32,43,51,53]. The mean FA prevalence was lower in nine samples of adults younger than 35 years of age at 17.0% [26,32,34,36,40,43,47,53,57] compared to 22.2% in eleven samples of adults aged over 35 years [27,35,…”