TY - JOUR
T1 - Food-addiction scale measurement in 2 cohorts of middle-aged and older women
AU - Flint, Alan J.
AU - Gearhardt, Ashley N.
AU - Corbin, William
AU - Brownell, Kelly D.
AU - Field, Alison E.
AU - Rimm, Eric B.
PY - 2014/3/1
Y1 - 2014/3/1
N2 - Background: Excess weight is a major threat to public health. An addiction-like tendency toward certain foods may contribute to overeating. Objective: We aimed to describe the prevalence and associated characteristics in relation to a food-addiction scale in middle-aged and older women. Design: We examined the prevalence and associated characteristics of a food-addiction scale measure in a cross-sectional analysis of 134,175 women participating in 2 ongoing prospective cohort studies of US nurses. Results: Overall, 7839 (5.8%) of the women surveyed met the criteria for food addiction measured by using the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale. The prevalence of food addiction was 8.4% in the younger cohort of women aged 45-64 y and 2.7% in the older cohort of women aged 62-88 y. In the multivariate model, body mass index (BMI; in kg/m 2) ≥35.0 (compared with 18.5-22.9) was associated with food addiction, a prevalence ratio (PR) of 15.83 (95% CI: 12.58, 19.91) in the younger cohort of women, and a PR of 18.41 (95% CI: 11.63, 29.14) in the older cohort of women. Several other demographic characteristics and other factors were associated with the food-addiction measure in both cohorts of women. Conclusions: To our knowledge, for the first time in a large, US-based population of women, we documented the prevalence of food addiction by using a novel measurement scale in middle-aged and older women. The results may provide insight into the strong association between behavioral attributes of food consumption and the development of obesity.
AB - Background: Excess weight is a major threat to public health. An addiction-like tendency toward certain foods may contribute to overeating. Objective: We aimed to describe the prevalence and associated characteristics in relation to a food-addiction scale in middle-aged and older women. Design: We examined the prevalence and associated characteristics of a food-addiction scale measure in a cross-sectional analysis of 134,175 women participating in 2 ongoing prospective cohort studies of US nurses. Results: Overall, 7839 (5.8%) of the women surveyed met the criteria for food addiction measured by using the modified Yale Food Addiction Scale. The prevalence of food addiction was 8.4% in the younger cohort of women aged 45-64 y and 2.7% in the older cohort of women aged 62-88 y. In the multivariate model, body mass index (BMI; in kg/m 2) ≥35.0 (compared with 18.5-22.9) was associated with food addiction, a prevalence ratio (PR) of 15.83 (95% CI: 12.58, 19.91) in the younger cohort of women, and a PR of 18.41 (95% CI: 11.63, 29.14) in the older cohort of women. Several other demographic characteristics and other factors were associated with the food-addiction measure in both cohorts of women. Conclusions: To our knowledge, for the first time in a large, US-based population of women, we documented the prevalence of food addiction by using a novel measurement scale in middle-aged and older women. The results may provide insight into the strong association between behavioral attributes of food consumption and the development of obesity.
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U2 - 10.3945/ajcn.113.068965
DO - 10.3945/ajcn.113.068965
M3 - Article
C2 - 24452236
AN - SCOPUS:84896866978
SN - 0002-9165
VL - 99
SP - 578
EP - 586
JO - American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
JF - American Journal of Clinical Nutrition
IS - 3
ER -