Wiedemann Ashley A, Carr Meagan M, Ivezaj Valentina, Barnes Rachel D
Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, 300 George Street, New Haven, CT, 06520, USA.
General Internal Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
Eat Weight Disord. 2021 Jun;26(5):1503-1509. doi: 10.1007/s40519-020-00957-w. Epub 2020 Jul 28.
Food addiction (FA) is related to greater body mass index (BMI), eating-disorder psychopathology, food craving, and psychosocial impairment. Less is known regarding the utility of the FA severity specifiers, as measured by the number of symptoms endorsed on the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS 2.0).
Participants (N = 1854) were recruited from Amazon Mechanical Turk to complete an online survey on eating behaviors. Participants completed self-report measures assessing FA, eating-disorder psychopathology (Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire), and food craving (Food Craving Inventory). Based on the YFAS 2.0 specifiers, participants were classified into four FA groups: No FA (n = 1643), mild (n = 40), moderate (n = 55), and severe (n = 116).
There were significant differences found in age, sex, BMI, and frequency of objective binge-eating episodes (OBEs) among the FA groups. Using ANCOVA, adjusted for multiple comparisons and covariates (e.g., BMI, sex, OBEs), the No FA group reported significantly lower levels of shape concern (η = 0.05; p < 0.001), weight concern (η = 0.04; p < 0.001), eating concern (η = 0.15; p < 0.001), and global eating-disorder psychopathology (η = 0.06; p < 0.001) than mild, moderate, or severe FA groups. The No FA group reported significantly lower levels of dietary restraint (η = 0.01; p < 0.01) than mild and severe FA groups. The severe FA group reported higher food craving scores (η = 0.02; p < 0.001) compared to the No FA group.
Our findings parallel the severity specifiers literature for eating and substance use disorders by also indicating the limited utility of severity specifiers based on symptom count. Future research should investigate alternative targets for discriminating among levels of FA.
Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.
食物成瘾（FA）与更高的体重指数（BMI）、饮食失调心理病理学、食物渴望及心理社会功能损害有关。关于通过耶鲁食物成瘾量表（YFAS 2.0）上认可的症状数量来衡量的食物成瘾严重程度说明符的效用，人们了解得较少。
从亚马逊土耳其机器人平台招募了1854名参与者，以完成一项关于饮食行为的在线调查。参与者完成了自我报告测量，评估食物成瘾、饮食失调心理病理学（饮食失调检查问卷）和食物渴望（食物渴望量表）。根据YFAS 2.0说明符，参与者被分为四个食物成瘾组：无食物成瘾组（n = 1643）、轻度组（n = 40）、中度组（n = 55）和重度组（n = 116）。
在食物成瘾组之间，年龄、性别、BMI和客观暴饮暴食发作（OBE）频率存在显著差异。使用协方差分析，并对多重比较和协变量（如BMI、性别、OBE）进行校正后，无食物成瘾组在体型关注（η = 0.05；p < 0.001）、体重关注（η = 0.04；p < 0.001）、饮食关注（η = 0.15；p < 0.001）和整体饮食失调心理病理学（η = 0.06；p < 0.001）方面的报告水平显著低于轻度、中度或重度食物成瘾组。无食物成瘾组在饮食节制方面的报告水平（η = 利用协方差分析，并对多重比较和协变量（如BMI、性别、OBE）进行校正后，无食物成瘾组在体型关注（η = 0.05；P < 0.001）、体重关注（η = 0.04；P < 0.001）、饮食关注（η = 0.15；P < 0.001）和整体饮食失调心理病理学（η = 0.06；P < 0.001）方面的报告水平显著低于轻度、中度或重度食物成瘾组。无食物成瘾组在饮食节制方面报告水平（η = 0.01；p < 0.01）显著低于轻度和重度食物成瘾组。与无食物成瘾组相比，重度食物成瘾组报告的食物渴望得分更高（η = 0.02；p < 0.001）。
我们的研究结果与饮食和物质使用障碍的严重程度说明符文献一致，也表明基于症状计数的严重程度说明符效用有限。未来的研究应调查区分不同食物成瘾水平的替代指标。
V级，横断面描述性研究。
