Title:Systematic Review of Food Addiction as Measured with the Yale Food Addiction Scale: Implications for the Food Addiction Construct
Volume: 17
Issue: 6
Author(s): Louise Penzenstadler*, Carina Soares, Laurent Karila and Yasser Khazaal
Affiliation:
- Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva,Switzerland
Keywords:
Addictive disorders, behavioral addiction, binge eating disorder, eating disorders, food addiction, obesity, yale food
addiction scale, YFAS.
Abstract:
Background: The concept of food addiction attracts much interest in the scientific community.
Research is mainly based on the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), a tool developed to
assess food addiction. Substance use disorder criteria have been used to develop this scale.
Objective: The aim of this paper was to review the clinical significance of food addiction diagnoses
made with the YFAS and to discuss the results in light of the current debate on behavioral
addictions.
Methods: We performed a systematic review of the studies that assessed food addiction with the
YFAS published between January 2014 and July 2017 by searching the electronic databases
PsycINFO, MEDLINE, and PsycARTICLES.
Results: Sixty publications were included in the analysis. Thirty-three studies examined nonclinical
samples and 27 examined clinical samples. All studies used YFAS scoring results to define food
addiction. The prevalence of food addiction according to the YFAS varied largely by the studied
samples. In general, a higher body mass index and the presence of eating disorders (EDs), especially
binge eating disorder (BED), were associated with higher YFAS scores.
Conclusion: The concept of food addiction has not been established to this day although it can be
grouped with other EDs such as BED. More research is needed to understand this behavior and
the differences between food addiction and other EDs. The criteria for food addiction should be
revisited in light of the concepts currently used to examine behavioral addictions.