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

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.