AUTHOR=Palacio Ana Cristina , Cuello Catalina , Díaz-Torrente Ximena 

TITLE=Food addiction in patients on weight loss treatment

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=11

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.1459274

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2024.1459274

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Background</title><p>Food addiction (FA) is defined as hedonic eating behavior involving the consumption of highly palatable foods (i.e., ultra processed foods in quantities beyond homeostatic energy requirements). FA is present in a subset of patients with overweight or obesity and could contribute to the response to weight loss treatments.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Aim</title><p>Determine FA in individuals that fulfil the criteria of FA as measured by the YFAS 2.0, and its association with anthropometric and body composition variables in a clinical sample of patients undergoing weight loss treatment. Also, to determine the most prevalent FA criteria.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Methods</title><p>An observational, analytical, and cross-sectional study was conducted. Sampling was non-probabilistic, convenience based. A total of 158 participants were recruited from two clinical centers (private and public) focused on managing non-communicable chronic diseases. The Chilean version of YFAS 2.0 was administrated through the online REDCap platform. Anthropometric measurements were measured, and body mass index (BMI) was calculated.</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Results</title><p>The mean age was 47.8 (SD 14.9) and BMI 28.7 (SD 5.3) kg/m<sup>2</sup>. There were 12.7% patients who screened positive on the YFAS 2.0 Chilean version (3.2% for mild, 2.5% for moderate and 7.0% for severe), the mean symptom count was 2.2 (SD 2.6), with <italic>withdrawal</italic> being the most prevalent criterion (33.5%). FA patients had significantly higher body weight compared to non-FA subjects (<italic>p</italic> = 0.045). We observed a slight and significant correlation between FA symptom count and body weight (<italic>p</italic> = 0.020), waist circumference (<italic>p</italic> = 0.005), and BMI (<italic>p</italic> = 0.023).</p></sec><sec id="sec5"><title>Conclusion</title><p>This is the first study in Chile that showed that FA was present in patients undergoing weight loss treatment and was associated with anthropometric measurements. In addition, it showed that <italic>withdrawal</italic> was the most prevalent criterion. Future studies should investigate whether the presence of FA and the <italic>withdrawal</italic> criterion could contribute to suboptimal clinical response to weight loss treatment.</p></sec>