Longitudinal Changes in Food Addiction Symptoms and Body Weight among Adults in a Behavioral Weight-Loss Program

• Published in: Nutrients 2020-11, Vol.12 (12), p.3687
• Main Authors: Gordon, Eliza L, Merlo, Lisa J, Durning, Patricia E, Perri, Michael G
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Addictions; Addictive behaviors; Adult; Aged; Behavior; Body Weight; Body weight loss; Drug use; Feeding Behavior; Female; Food; Food Addiction; Food consumption; Humans; Impulsivity; Intervention; Male; Middle Aged; Obesity; Problem solving; Sugar; Time Factors; treatment; Weight control; Weight Loss; Weight reduction; Weight Reduction Programs; Women; Young Adult
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu12123687

Interest in food addiction (FA) has increased, but little is known about its clinical implications or potential treatments. Using secondary analyses from a randomized controlled trial, we evaluated the associations between changes in FA, body weight, and "problem food" consumption during a 22-month behavioral weight-loss program consisting of an initial four-month in-person intervention, 12-month extended-care, and six-month follow-up ( = 182). Food addiction was measured using the Yale Food Addiction Scale. "Problem foods" were identified from the literature and self-reporting. Multilevel modeling was used as the primary method of analysis. We hypothesized that reductions in problem food consumption during the initial treatment phase would be associated with long-term (22-month) FA reductions. As expected, we found that reductions in problem foods were associated with greater initial reductions in FA symptoms; however, they were also associated with a sharper rebound in symptoms over time ( = 0.016), resulting in no significant difference at Month 22 ( = 0.856). Next, we hypothesized that long-term changes in FA would be associated with long-term changes in body weight. Although both FA and weight decreased over time ( s < 0.05), month-to-month changes in FA were not associated with month-to-month changes in weight ( = 0.706). Instead, higher overall FA (i.e., mean scores over the course of the study) were associated with less weight loss ( = 0.008) over time. Finally, we hypothesized that initial reductions in problem food consumption would be associated with long-term reductions in weight, but this relationship was not significant ( s > 0.05). Given the complexity of the findings, more research is needed to identify interventions for long-term changes in FA and to elucidate the associations between problem foods, FA, and weight.