The Prevalence of Food Addiction Among a Sample of Saudi Adults and Its Association with Overweight and Obesity PDF

Keywords

Food addiction, Obesity, Saudi, Eating behavior.

Abstract

Background: Obesity is highly prevalent in Saudi Arabia. It significantly contributes to morbidity and mortality among Saudi population. Food addiction has received a lot of attention due to the increasing prevalence of obesity, which is directly related to over consumption. To our knowledge; no study has explored addiction to food among the Saudi. Objectives: To investigate the existence of food addiction in Saudi Arabian adults; and how it is associated with weight status; and other co-factors. Design: A cross-sectional study. Setting: healthy Saudi adults who volunteered to participate in an online survey (http://www.surveymonkey.com/), Saudi Arabia. Study population and Methods: The survey had 1384 responses but only 1059 of those met the criteria of the study (26% men and 74% women) ranging in age from 18 to 59. The Yale Food Addiction Scale was used to diagnose food addiction. Main Outcome Measures: Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between food addiction, overweight and obesity. Results: 10.9% of the entire study population diagnosed with food addiction. They were heavier by 13.8kgs. Those who were diagnosed with food addiction were 4.1%, 8.4% and 19.9 % among those who were healthy, overweight and obese respectively. The obese were 6.5 times more likely to have food addiction than those with normal weight. Food addiction found to be associated with people had a low income, were trying to lose weight, physically inactive, and watched TV, or used a phone for more than 5 hours each day. Conclusion: Food addiction was found to exist in Saudi people and it is associated with those who were heavier. Thus, urgent intervention is needed to manage and overcome this problem. Limitation: This is a cross-sectional study thus a longitudinal analysis is needed to evaluate the relationship between food addiction prevalence and weight status. The data was self-reported.