Schulte, E. M., Smeal, J. K., Lewis, J., & Gearhardt, A. N. (2018). Development of the Highly Processed Food Withdrawal Scale. Appetite, 131
, 148-154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2018.09.013
From the research article’s abstract: “Food addiction posits that highly processed foods may be capable of triggering addictive-like symptoms in some individuals, including withdrawal. The current study developed and assessed the psychometric properties of the first self-report measure of highly processed food withdrawal. Individuals (n = 231) aged 19–68 (51.9% female) were recruited online through Amazon Mechanical Turk and reported cutting down on highly processed foods in the past year. The Highly Processed Food Withdrawal Scale (ProWS) was adapted from self-report measures of drug withdrawal and internal consistency and validity were evaluated. Paralleling the course of drug withdrawal, symptoms assessed by the ProWS were reported as most intense between days 2–5 during an attempt to cut down.