Food addiction and associations with mental health symptoms: a systematic review with meta-analysis.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies
PubMed 29368800 · doi:10.1111/jhn.12532
What was done
Nine electronic databases were searched for studies reporting Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) diagnosis or symptom score, a mental health outcome, and the statistical association between them. A systematic review and meta-analysis of 51 included studies was conducted to evaluate the prevalence of food addiction and its correlations with mental health symptoms.
What was found
The mean prevalence of food addiction diagnosis across studies was 16.2%, with an average of 3.3 food addiction symptoms reported (range 2.85–3.92). In populations seeking treatment for weight loss, the mean symptom count was 3.01 (range 2.65–3.37), whereas groups with disordered eating reported a mean of 5.2 symptoms (range 3.6–6.7). Food addiction showed significant positive correlations (P < 0.05) with binge eating (mean r = 0.602, range 0.557–0.643), depression (mean r = 0.459, range 0.358–0.550), and anxiety (mean r = 0.483, range 0.228–0.676).
Why it matters
This review quantifies the co-occurrence of food addiction symptoms with major psychiatric and eating symptoms, demonstrating moderate-to-strong correlations particularly in populations with disordered eating.
Limits
The abstract does not report the total participant count or individual study designs across the 51 included articles. Cross-sectional and correlational associations preclude causal inference regarding whether food addiction causes or stems from mental health symptoms. Evaluation of food addiction was limited to YFAS self-report measures.
Cited by
- supports According to the Yale Food Addiction Scale, 14% of the global population, including 14% of children, meets the criteria for food addiction, comparable to the roughly 14% rate of alcohol addiction.