Pedram, P., Wadden, D., Amini, P., Gulliver, W., Randell, E., Cahill, F., Vasdev, S., Goodridge, A., Carter, J. C., Zhai, G., Ji, Y., & Sun, G. (2013). Food addiction: its prevalence and significant association with obesity in the general population. PLoS One, 8
(9), e74832. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0074832
From the research article’s abstract: “Background: ‘Food addiction’ shares a similar neurobiological and behavioral framework with substance addiction. However whether, and to what degree, ‘food addiction’ contributes to obesity in the general population is unknown. Objectives: to assess 1) the prevalence of ‘food addiction’ in the Newfoundland population; 2) if clinical symptom counts of ‘food addiction’ were significantly correlated with the body composition measurements; 3) if food addicts were significantly more obese than controls, and 4) if macronutrient intakes are associated with ‘food addiction’. Design: A total of 652 adults (415 women, 237 men) recruited from the general population participated in this study. Obesity was evaluated by Body Mass Index (BMI) and Body Fat percentage measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. ‘Food addiction’ was assessed using the Yale Food Addiction Scale and macronutrient intake was determined from the Willet Food Frequency Questionnaire. Results: