Neurocognitive correlates of Food and Alcohol Disturbances: An integrated neuropsychological investigation

Food and Alcohol Disturbance (FAD) represents a functional relationship between alcohol use and eating behaviors, in which individuals engage in disordered eating to enhance alcohol intoxication and/or compensate for alcohol-related caloric intake. FAD is highly prevalent among young adults, particularly University students. While the biopsychosocial correlates of FAD are documented, its specific neurocognitive correlates remain unexplored, despite extensive literature describing the distinct neurocognitive correlates of alcohol consumption and eating disorders. We therefore investigated whether FAD is associated with neurocognitive correlates in university students and examined whether different FAD sub-dimensions relate to distinct cognitive profiles. We assessed FAD in 130 French university students using the CEBRACS scale and administered an extensive neuropsychological battery measuring visuospatial abilities, episodic memory, and executive functions. We compared cognitive performance between individuals who do and do not engage in FAD and then conducted exploratory multivariate regression analyses to identify variations in cognitive profiles across the CEBRACS subscales. The general comparison between individuals who do and do not engage in FAD did not reveal significant differences. Conversely, analyses of the CEBRACS subscales identified specific patterns: (1) dietary restraint was associated with poorer visuospatial abilities and verbal episodic memory; (2) purging behaviors were associated with lower executive functioning but improved visual episodic memory; (3) extreme fasting and self-induced vomiting were associated with poorer visual episodic memory performance but higher executive functioning. These findings suggest that FAD is an umbrella term encompassing various cognitive profiles according to the distinct eating behaviors involved and highlight the importance of considering the subcomponents of FAD when exploring its neurocognitive correlates.