Food cravings in food addiction: exploring a potential cut-off value of the Food Cravings Questionnaire-Trait-reduced.

PURPOSE

The Food Cravings Questionnaires are among the most often used measures for assessing the frequency and intensity of food craving experiences. However, there is a lack of studies that have examined specific cut-off scores that may indicate pathologically elevated levels of food cravings.

METHODS

Receiver-Operating-Characteristic analysis was used to determine sensitivity and specificity of scores on the Food Cravings Questionnaire-Trait-reduced (FCQ-T-r) for discriminating between individuals with (n = 43) and without (n = 389) "food addiction" as assessed with the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0.

RESULTS

A cut-off score of 50 on the FCQ-T-r discriminated between individuals with and without "food addiction" with high sensitivity (85%) and specificity (93%).

CONCLUSIONS

FCQ-T-r scores of 50 and higher may indicate clinically relevant levels of trait food craving.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Level V, descriptive study.