Food addiction and the physical and mental health status of adults with overweight and obesity

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Brain, Cognition and Mental Health

Main article text

 

Introduction

Analysis of factors associated with FA

Relationship between FA and depressive symptoms

Materials and Methods

Participants

Procedures

Measures

Sociodemographic variables and covariates

Frequency of food consumption

Eating behaviours

Physical activity and sedentary behaviour

Food addiction

Self-rated depression

Waist and hip circumference

Height

Body composition analysis

Lipid profile and fasting glucose measurement

Blood pressure

Statistical analysis

Ethical considerations

Results

Characteristics of the group

Descriptive statistics of the study group

Analysis of factors associated with FA

  • H1.

    There are differences in the prevalence of FA according to age

    We found a statistically significant difference in FA scores between age categories χ2(2, N = 172) = 17.23; p = 0.001 (Table 3). FA was absent in 61.0% of those aged up to 50 years, 82.9% of those aged 51–65 years, and 93.4% of those aged 65 years and over. FA was statistically significantly (p < 0.05) more common among in those aged up to 50 years. The older the respondent, the less common the was FA.

  • H2.

    There is a significant difference in the frequency of consumption of different products in subgroups between the subgroup of FA in contrast to NFA

    There were no statistically significant differences (p > 0.05) in food group consumption between the FA and NFA groups with overweight and obesity (Table 4). A parametric T-test for independent variables was used for fats, fruits and vegetables and cereal products, comparing the means of the dependent variable between groups. For the other product groups, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney U test was used.

  • H3.

    There is a significant relationship between FA and the number of comorbidities and metabolic parameters such as blood pressure, TC, HDL, LDL, TG, fasting glucose level and anthropometric results

    In the NFA group, the DBP averaged M = 74.71; SD = 7.65, while among subjects with FA the mean was higher, at M = 78.09; SD = 7.45. The FA group had a statistically significant higher DBP than the NFA subjects, t(170) = −2.27; p = 0.025. No significant difference in the number of diseases due to the presence of FA, U = 2,223.50; p = 0.947, SBP, U = 1,986.50; p = 0.319, TC, U = 2,023.00; p = 0.499, LDL cholesterol U = 2,145.50; p = 0.854 and HDL cholesterol, U = 2,025.00; p = 0.399, TG, U = 2,124.50; p = 0.651 and fasting glucose, U = 2,040.50; p = 0.433 (Table 5). We also showed that those with FA symptoms had a statistically significant higher BMI, U = 1,609.00; p = 0.013 and a significantly higher body fat mass, U = 1,695.00; p = 0.032 (Table 5). The presence of FA did not significantly differentiate the groups considering waist circumference, U = 1,985.00; p = 0.316 and hips, U = 1,859.50; p = 0.135, WHR ratio, U = 2,119.50; p = 0.636 and amount of visceral tissue, U = 1,993.50; p = 0.330.

The relationship between FA and depressive symptoms

BMI

Eating behaviours

PA and SB

Discussion

There are differences in the prevalence of FA according to age

There is no significant difference in the frequency of consumption of different products in subgroups between the subgroup of FA in contrast to NFA

There is no significant relationship between FA and the number of comorbidities and metabolic parameters such as SBP, TC, HDL, LDL, TG, fasting glucose level, waist and hip circumferences, WHR, and visceral fat

Comorbidities and metabolic parameters

Anthropometric results

There is a significant relationship between BMI and SB and symptoms of FA and depression but not with eating behaviours and PA

Symptoms of depression

BMI

Eating behaviours

SB and PA

Limitations

Strengths and future research directions

Conclusions

Supplemental Information

STROBE checklist.

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17639/supp-1

Raw Data in English.

The responses to the individual questionnaires.

DOI: 10.7717/peerj.17639/supp-2

Additional Information and Declarations

Competing Interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Author Contributions

Magdalena Zielińska conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, prepared figures and/or tables, authored or reviewed drafts of the article, and approved the final draft.

Edyta Łuszczki conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, prepared figures and/or tables, authored or reviewed drafts of the article, and approved the final draft.

Anna Szymańska performed the experiments, authored or reviewed drafts of the article, and approved the final draft.

Katarzyna Dereń conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, prepared figures and/or tables, authored or reviewed drafts of the article, and approved the final draft.

Human Ethics

The following information was supplied relating to ethical approvals (i.e., approving body and any reference numbers):

The study was approved by the Bioethics Committee of the University of Rzeszów (Resolution No. 2023/07/0046 of 25 June 2023).

Data Availability

The following information was supplied regarding data availability:

The raw measurements are available in the Supplemental File.

Funding

The authors received no funding for this work.

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