Food Intake and Addictive Eating

A special issue of Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643). This special issue belongs to the section "Clinical Nutrition".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 5 August 2024 | Viewed by 1671

Special Issue Editors


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1. Department of Psychology, Catholic University of Milan, 20123 Milan, Italy
2. Clinical Psychology Research Laboratory, Ospedale San Luca, IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano, 28824 Milan, Italy
Interests: clinical psychology; obesity; eating disorders; cardiovascular disease; psychotherapy; e-health; randomized control trial; systematic review; questionnaire validation
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Section of Applied Psychology, Department of Philosophy, Sociology, Education, and Applied Psychology, University of Padova, 35128 Padova, Italy
Interests: digital health; psychological personalized treatments; stress; anxiety
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Pathological overeating is frequently linked to an increased incidence of obesity, one of the leading causes of death in the industrialized world. Susceptible individuals might become addicted to food by losing control over the ability to regulate its intake and, thus, develop an eating disturbance.

The addictive properties of palatable foods and the recognition of food-related disorders as addictive behavior are quite recent and controversial concepts. Different tools have been developed and many studies have been performed to assess, understand, and control the food addiction phenomenon. However, the mechanisms involved in this addictive-like behavior are not yet well established.

The focus of this Research Topic is to support a deeper understanding of the scientific and clinical aspects of food addiction. We welcome submissions of articles providing novel insights into food addiction or novel methods for assessing addictive-like behavior.

Since an inherent principle of publication is that others should be able to replicate and build upon the authors' published results, we encourage authors to describe their research procedure and results in as much detail as possible. Moreover, experiments showing negative results earn their place in this special topic.

Dr. Giada Pietrabissa
Dr. Alessandro Alberto Rossi
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • food addiction
  • addictive behaviors
  • obesity
  • binge eating
  • eating disorders
  • questionnaire validation

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 1776 KiB  
Article
The Association between Grazing and Food Addiction: The Italian Version of the Repetitive Eating Questionnaire (Rep(Eat)-Q) and Its Relationships with Food Addiction Criteria
by Alessandro Alberto Rossi, Stefania Mannarini, Michelle Semonella, Gianluca Castelnuovo and Giada Pietrabissa
Nutrients 2024, 16(7), 949; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16070949 - 26 Mar 2024
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Abstract
Background: Among the dysfunctional eating behaviors associated with excessive food intake, a construct that is gaining increasing attention is grazing—the constant, continuous, compulsive, and repetitive consumption of small/moderate amounts of food. Furthermore, in some cases, grazing seems to indicate a dependence on food [...] Read more.
Background: Among the dysfunctional eating behaviors associated with excessive food intake, a construct that is gaining increasing attention is grazing—the constant, continuous, compulsive, and repetitive consumption of small/moderate amounts of food. Furthermore, in some cases, grazing seems to indicate a dependence on food and/or eating. Currently, the Repetitive Eating Questionnaire (Rep(Eat)-Q) appears to be the only questionnaire that comprehensively measures grazing, including its repetitive and compulsive eating component. Therefore, in a sample of individuals with severe obesity, the objective of this study was twofold: (A) to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Rep(Eat)-Q, and (B) to analyze the association between grazing and food addiction (FA). Method: A cross-sectional research design was used. A total of 402 inpatients with severe obesity (BMI > 35) were recruited. Participants underwent a series of questionnaires to investigate structural validity and convergent validity and association with FA criteria. Results: The factorial structure of the Rep(Eat)-Q is robust and showed fit indexes: CFI = 0.973; RMSEA = 0.074; 90%CI [0.056–0.091]; and SRMR = 0.029. Also, it exhibited good internal consistency and convergent validity. Furthermore, logistic regression analysis highlights a specific association between certain FA criteria and grazing. Conclusions: The Rep(Eat)-Q can be considered to be a concise, robust, reliable, and statistically sound tool to assess repetitive eating, specifically grazing. Its strong psychometric properties offer significant advantages for both research and clinical applications. Furthermore, in a sample of individuals with severe obesity, the results suggest that individuals with problematic grazing exhibit a typical behavioral profile of subjects with FA, indicating that FA can manifest through problematic grazing as well. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Intake and Addictive Eating)
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23 pages, 1859 KiB  
Article
Assessing Discriminant Validity through Structural Equation Modeling: The Case of Eating Compulsivity
by Anna Panzeri, Gianluca Castelnuovo and Andrea Spoto
Nutrients 2024, 16(4), 550; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu16040550 - 16 Feb 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 663
Abstract
Food addiction (FA) and disordered eating behaviors related to obesity are gaining attention in clinical and research fields. The modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (mYFAS2.0) is the gold standard questionnaire to measure FA, while another tool is the Measure of Eating Compulsivity [...] Read more.
Food addiction (FA) and disordered eating behaviors related to obesity are gaining attention in clinical and research fields. The modified Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 (mYFAS2.0) is the gold standard questionnaire to measure FA, while another tool is the Measure of Eating Compulsivity 10 (MEC10). Discriminant validity is present when two measures of similar but distinct constructs show a correlation that is low enough for the factors to be regarded as distinct. However, the discriminant validity of these measures has never been tested. Through a cross-sectional study design, 717 inpatients (females: 56.20%, age: 53.681 ± 12.74) with severe obesity completed the MEC10, Binge Eating Scale (BES), and mYFAS2.0. A structural equation model (SEM) was fitted, freely estimating latent correlations with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). The results confirmed the scales’ excellent psychometric properties. Importantly, latent factor correlations between MEC10 and mYFAS2.0 (est = 0.783, 95% CI [0.76, 0.80]) supported their discriminant validity. In contrast, the latent correlation of MEC10 and BES (est = 0.86, 95% CI [0.84, 0.87]) exceeded the recommended thresholds, indicating the absence of discriminant validity and suggesting a potential overlap, consistent with previous evidence. In conclusion, MEC10 demonstrates excellent psychometric properties but is more a measure of BED and not FA. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food Intake and Addictive Eating)
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