Mies GW, et al. – This investigation sought to inspect the prevalence of food addiction in adolescents, using the Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS)– children (C). A positive link was discovered between the symptoms of food addiction with smoking, alcohol use, cannabis use and sugar intake. It was suggested that future studies ought to target the possible genetic/(neuro)biological mechanisms involved in both food addiction and substance use. Longitudinal designs were warranted to analyze the possible causal pathways.

• The Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) estimated the ‘food addiction’ by translating the diagnostic criteria for substance use disorder to eating behaviour.
• Few studies analyzed the prevalence of food addiction in children with the YFAS for children (YFAS-C).
• Large-scale studies were lacking, particularly among adolescents.
• Adolescence is of particular interest as it was a period wherein unhealthy eating behaviours or addictive tendencies possibly developed.
• This paper gauged the prevalence of food addiction using the YFAS-C in Dutch adolescents (N = 2653) aged 14-21 years.
• The correlation between food addiction symptoms and smoking, cannabis use, alcohol use, and sugar intake through drinks, with Generalized Estimation Equation (GEE) analysis, while controlling for gender, age, educational level and weight class.
• 2.6% of the enrollees met the criteria for a food addiction ‘diagnosis’, and the average symptom count was 1.0 (SD = 1.3, range 0-7).