Dietary intake, food addiction and nutrition knowledge in young people with mental illness

The aim of this study was to comprehensively assess dietary intake, nutrition knowledge and food addiction in young people with mental illness.

This was a three-arm cross-sectional study of 16-25-year-olds attending community mental health services who met criteria for: (i) first-episode psychosis (FEP), (ii) ultra-high risk for psychosis (UHR) or (iii) depression/anxiety. Participants self-completed three validated questionnaires: (i) Australian Eating Survey, (ii) General Nutrition Knowledge Questionnaire-Revised and (iii) Yale Food Addiction Score Questionnaire.

Thirty participants (mean age 19.7 ± 2.5 years) completed the study (10 per study arm); 43% of the energy intake was obtained from energy-dense, non-nutritious foods, higher than the recommended upper limit (<15%) and the levels reported in the general population (35%). Mean diet quality score was 33.5 ± 11.8 of 73. Mean food addiction symptom score was 3.3 ± 3.7. Prevalence of food addiction was 37%. Nutrition knowledge was lower in the FEP and UHR participants than the depression/anxiety group (48.2 ± 13.8 and 49.5 ± 8.2 of 88 respectively); however, this difference was not statistically significant.

Unhealthy dietary intake was observed in the early stages of mental illness, likely seeding future poor physical health. Further research is needed on the role of food addiction in this population, including effective intervention techniques.