Prevalence of food addiction in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Systematic review and meta-analysis of cross-sectional observational studies
PubMed 33403795 · doi:10.1111/obr.13183
What was done
Authors conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis across PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science to estimate food addiction (FA) prevalence in pediatric populations assessed via the Yale Food Addiction Scale for Children and Adolescents (YFAS-C). Twenty-two cross-sectional studies totaling 6,996 participants were identified and analyzed using Freeman-Tukey Double Arcsine transformation and meta-regression by weight status (community vs. overweight/obese samples).
What was found
The estimated pooled food addiction prevalence was 15% (95% CI 11-19%) for all samples, 12% (95% CI 8-17%) for community samples, and 19% (95% CI 14-26%) for overweight/obese samples. Meta-regression showed weight status was significantly associated with food addiction severity (p = 0.002) and marginally associated with food addiction prevalence (p = 0.056).
Why it matters
This review provides quantitative baseline prevalence estimates for food addiction in youth, showing it affects approximately 1 in 8 children in community samples and nearly 1 in 5 youth who are overweight or obese.
Limits
All 22 included studies were cross-sectional; no longitudinal studies were identified. The findings rely solely on the YFAS-C instrument, and the abstract does not report risk of bias assessments or heterogeneity statistics across the pooled cohorts.
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.