Exploring Food Addiction Across Several Behavioral Addictions: Analysis of Clinical Relevance

Area of Science:

• Behavioral Neuroscience
• Clinical Psychology
• Psychiatry

Background:

• Growing interest in food addiction (FA) within the spectrum of behavioral addictions (BAs).
• Limited research on FA prevalence across different BAs.
• Need to understand the clinical profile of patients with comorbid FA and BAs.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate FA prevalence in patients seeking treatment for gaming disorder, compulsive buying-shopping disorder (CBSD), compulsive sexual behavior disorder, and multiple BAs.
• Characterize sociodemographic factors, personality traits, and general psychopathology in this clinical sample.
• Examine the association between FA and body mass index (BMI).

Main Methods:

• A clinical sample of 209 patients from a specialized behavioral addiction unit was assessed.
• Utilized semi-structured interviews and self-reported psychometric tools, including the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (YFAS-2) and Symptom Checklist-Revised (SCL-90-R).
• Employed logistic regression and ANCOVA for clinical profile comparisons and chi-square tests/ANOVA for sociodemographic analysis.

Main Results:

• Overall FA prevalence was 22.49% in the sample.
• Highest FA prevalence observed in compulsive buying-shopping disorder (CBSD) (31.3%), followed by gaming disorder (24.7%).
• FA comorbidity was associated with female gender, greater general psychopathology, emotional dysregulation, impulsivity, and higher BMI.

Conclusions:

• High comorbidity of FA with BAs (22.49%) indicates significant overlap and greater clinical severity.
• Elevated emotional distress suggests FA behaviors may serve as a coping mechanism for psychological distress.
• Future research should explore underlying mechanisms and consider routine screening for FA in BA patients.