Prevalence and correlates of food addiction: Systematic review of studies with the YFAS 2.0.

BACKGROUND

Research on food addiction (FA) has been growing and increasing interest has been seen in comprehending its mechanisms and clinical and psychological correlates of this phenomena. This field of study is specially apply to understand obesity and eating behavior issues related to eating disorders (ED).

OBJECTIVES

We performed a literature review that describe recent research using the updated version of the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS 2.0) or modified-YFAS (mYFAS 2.0), from the date of its publication.

METHODS

Search were performed in Web of Science, Pubmed and PsycNET databases for studies that used the YFAS 2.0 and mYFAS 2.0.

RESULTS

The studies (n = 53) investigated adaptation and validation of the scale in different cultures (n = 13), prevalence on nonclinical populations and representative samples (n = 5), food addiction in obesity samples (n = 11), in samples with ED and disordered eating (n = 10) and studies that investigated FA in association with other clinical and psychological variables (n = 14).

DISCUSSION

Studies with the YFAS 2.0 reveal higher prevalence of FA in different samples, and a great association between FA and BED, BN and obesity. Implications for diagnostic of this phenomena and the overlap between FA and other disorders are discussed.

CONCLUSIONS

The field of FA remains an open subject and effort must be implied to understand the subjective experience of addiction related to eating and food.